World War II, Effects on Immigration

Since the end of World War II, international migrants have grown in volume and changed in character. From 1945 to the early 1970s, large numbers of migrant workers were drawn from less developed countries into the fast-expanding industrial areas of western Europe, North America, and Oceania, with the end of this phase being marked by the oil crisis of 1973–74. These migrants could be divided into three broad groups: (1) migrants from the European periphery to western Europe, often through “guest-worker systems”; (2) “colonial migrants” to the former colonial powers; and (3) permanent migrants to North America and Oceania, at first from Europe and later from Asia and Latin America.

There were also mass movements of European refugees at the end of World War II (post–1945 ...