Access to social protection differs widely amongst international migrants. Using new global data on bilateral migrant stocks, social security law, and bilateral social security agreements, we quantify the status of social protection of international migrants as belonging to one of four different regimes. Results suggest that approximately one quarter of global migrants fall under the most favorable regime, but these are largely north–north migrants. On the other hand, migrants from developing countries, in particular south–south migrants, are in a far less favorable position, having to depend largely on informal networks and self insurance as a way of minimizing risk.
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