Migration is not gender-neutral: New UN Women report reveals a changing reality in Europe and Central Asia

Istanbul/Geneva, 17 July 2026 – Women are reshaping migration in Europe and Central Asia, according to a new UN Women report released today. The report finds that women now account for 54 per cent of all migrants.  

Today, more than 13 million women born in Europe and Central Asia¹ live abroad, while the region is home to over 9.5 million migrant women from across the world. The UN Women report “Women on the Move in Europe and Central Asia: A comparative analysis of mixed migration dynamics, structural constraints and pathways” shows that women are increasingly migrating independently in search of education, decent work, safety and economic opportunity rather than accompanying family members, marking a fundamental transformation in migration across the region.  

These changing migration patterns are unfolding against a backdrop of the full-scale war in Ukraine, geopolitical shifts in the South Caucasus, unresolved post-conflict dynamics in the Western Balkans, and intensifying climate pressures, including floods, droughts, earthquakes, water scarcity and extreme heat.

“For too long, migration has been viewed as gender-neutral. This report tells a different story. Across Europe and Central Asia, women are increasingly shaping migration as students, workers, caregivers, entrepreneurs, refugees and community leaders. Sometimes migration is an escape from conflict, violence or disaster. Sometimes it is a journey towards education, decent work and opportunity. Whatever the reason, women deserve migration pathways that are safe, rights-based and responsive to their realities. Migration has the face of a woman. It is time we see it,” says Belén Sanz Luque, UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.  

The report finds that while migration creates new opportunities, women continue to face structural inequalities that limit their rights, economic security and protection.

• Women are increasingly migrating for education and employment. More than half of students from the Western Balkans and Türkiye studying abroad are women, many of whom remain overseas to build careers. Yet highly educated migrant women frequently struggle to find work matching their qualifications. Nearly 45 per cent of migrant women from North Macedonia, 50 per cent from Albania and 55 per cent from Kosovo2 are overqualified for the jobs they hold.
• Migrant women remain concentrated in low-paid and insecure work. Ageing populations across Europe are driving demand for migrant women in domestic work, long-term care, hospitality and retail. Between 30 and 50 per cent of migrant women from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, respectively, work in these sectors, where employment is often informal, poorly paid and inadequately protected, increasing the risk of exploitation, unsafe working conditions and gender-based violence. In Türkiye, while women are a significant part of the migrant population, they account for only 27.2 per cent of work permits issued.  
• Conflict continues to reshape migration across the region. Between 2022 and 2024, women accounted for 61 per cent of migrants from the Republic of Moldova and 56 per cent from Ukraine arriving in the European Union. Inside Ukraine, nearly 60 per cent of internally displaced households are headed by women, reflecting the disproportionate impact of war on women's lives and livelihoods.
• Human trafficking remains a hidden crisis. In 2022, women and girls represented 74 per cent of identified trafficking victims in Albania, 93 per cent in Kosovo and 81 per cent in Montenegro. Women and girls from marginalized communities, including Roma women and girls, face heightened risks while often having limited access to protection, justice and long-term support. In South Caucasus, at least 112 women were identified as trafficking victims in 2023. In Türkiye, women and girls made up 82 per cent of all identified trafficking victims between 2019 and 2023, including 266 girls. More than half of the cases in Türkiye involved sexual exploitation, followed by labour exploitation.
• Climate change is emerging as a growing driver of women's migration. Across Europe and Central Asia, droughts, floods, environmental degradation and extreme heat are increasingly displacing communities. By 2050, up to 2.4 million people in Central Asia could be displaced by climate-related disasters.

The report calls for governments and partners to strengthen gender-responsive migration governance by expanding safe and regular migration pathways, protecting migrant women's labour rights, improving recognition of qualifications, investing in gender-responsive social protection, and ensuring migrant and refugee women can fully participate in decision-making that affects their lives.

For media enquiries:

Salome Benidze, Regional Communications Specialist, UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. Salome.Benidze@unwomen.org, +995577211300 (WhatsApp)

¹ The ECA countries considered in this research are those included in the following subregions: 1) Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244), Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia; 2) Türkiye was treated as a separate subregion; 3) Eastern Europe (Republic of Moldova and Ukraine); 4) Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan); 5) South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia).