Published on: 2026-07-18
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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July 17, 2026 Women
According to a new report from the “UN Women” entity, published on Friday, women increasingly determine the nature of migration in Europe and Central Asia. They currently make up 54 percent of all migrants in the region.
“Deep changes” in migration processes
Today, more than 13 million women born in Europe and Central Asia live outside their birth countries, while the region itself hosts over 9.5 million female migrants from around the world. The report “Women in the Migration Process in Europe and Central Asia: A Comparative Analysis of Mixed Migration, Structural Constraints, and Existing Opportunities” shows that women are increasingly making the decision to move independently in search of education, decent work, safety, and economic opportunities, rather than merely accompanying other family members. This indicates profound changes in migration processes in the region.
Geopolitical context
These changes are occurring amid the full-scale war on the territory of Ukraine, geopolitical shifts in the South Caucasus, the ongoing consequences of conflicts in the Western Balkans, as well as the increasing impact of climate change, including floods, droughts, earthquakes, water shortages, and extreme heat.
“Migration has been viewed for too long as a phenomenon independent of gender. This report tells a very different story,” says Belen Sanz-Luke, Regional Director of UN Women for Europe and Central Asia. “Across Europe and Central Asia, women are increasingly becoming the driving force of migration — as students, workers, caregivers, entrepreneurs, refugees, and community leaders. Sometimes migration is a rescue from conflict, violence, or natural disaster. Sometimes it is a path to education, decent work, and new opportunities. Whatever the reason, women deserve safe, rights-based migration mechanisms that address their real needs. Migration has a female face. It is time to recognize this.”
Gender inequality
The report emphasizes that while migration opens up new opportunities for women, they still face structural inequality that limits their rights, economic security, and access to protection.
Women are increasingly moving abroad for education and work. More than half of the students from the Western Balkans and Turkey studying abroad are women, many of whom stay abroad to build their careers after graduation. However, even highly educated female migrants often cannot find jobs matching their qualifications. For example, almost 45 percent of female migrants from North Macedonia, 50 percent from Albania, and 55 percent from Kosovo have higher qualifications than their current jobs require.
Employment sectors
Women migrants remain concentrated in low-paid and unstable employment sectors. The aging population of European countries is increasing demand for the labor of women migrants in domestic care, long-term elderly care, hospitality, and retail. From 30 percent of women migrants from Kyrgyzstan to 50 percent of migrant women from Tajikistan work specifically in these sectors, where employment is often informal, poorly paid, and virtually unprotected. This raises the risk of exploitation, hazardous working conditions, and gender-based violence. In Turkey, women make up a significant portion of the migrant population, yet they account for only 27.2 percent of issued work permits.
Conflicts continue to change the migration landscape of the region. From 2022 to 2024, women made up 61 percent of migrants from the Republic of Moldova and 56 percent of migrants from Ukraine arriving in European Union countries. In Ukraine itself, nearly 60 percent of internally displaced persons’ households are headed by women, reflecting the disproportionately severe impact of the war on their lives and sources of income.
Human trafficking
Human trafficking remains a hidden crisis. In 2022, women and girls made up 74 percent of identified victims of human trafficking in Albania, 93 percent in Kosovo, and 81 percent in Montenegro.
Women and girls from marginalized population groups, including representatives of the Roma people, are at especially high risk, while their access to protection, justice, and long-term support often remains limited. In the South Caucasus in 2023, at least 112 women were identified as victims of human trafficking. In Turkey, between 2019 and 2023, women and girls accounted for 82 percent of all identified victims of human trafficking, including 266 girls. More than half of the registered cases were related to sexual exploitation, with labor exploitation being second.
Climate Change
Climate change is becoming an increasingly significant factor in female migration. Droughts, floods, environmental degradation, and extreme heat are forcing people to leave their homes more often. It is forecasted that by 2050, climate disasters could lead to the displacement of up to 2.4 million people in Central Asia.
Recommendations of the report authors
The authors of the report call on governments and international partners to improve migration policy taking gender factors into account. Recommended measures include expanding safe and legal migration pathways, strengthening the protection of migrant women’s labor rights, more effective recognition of their qualifications, investing in social protection systems that consider gender-specific features, as well as ensuring the full participation of migrant women and refugees in decision-making that affects their lives.
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