Migration
By 2006, Colombia has accumulated millions of internally displaced persons. At least 1.5 million of them are registered in the government's databases. NGOs and others estimate that the actual number could be as high 2 to 3 million, which would be the highest number of any country in the western hemisphere, and second worldwide, after Sudan. Most of the displaced do not live in camps, but rather disperse themselves throughout Colombia's own cities, an estimated 40% in the ten largest urban areas. .
In recent years, the main destination for those Colombians that have left their nation for economic reasons and the effects of the internal conflict has been neighboring Venezuela and other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Peru. (see Colombian diaspora).
Historically, a sizable percentage of Colombian emigration has also been motivated by the need to escape from political persecution and bipartisan violence during the periods of "La Violencia" (1948–1958), and later due to the effects of the nation's current conflict (since 1964). This has resulted in numerous applications for political asylum abroad.
Colombians have emigrated in comparably high rates to the United States (esp. to Miami, Florida, the largest Colombian American community). Colombian enclaves appeared in New Jersey, New York City, Chicago, Houston, Washington, D.C. and California being L.A. and San Francisco. Other Colombians migrated to Canada and Europe (most to Spain, but also to France and Italy, and the United Kingdom, which has a sizable Colombian community in London). Tens of thousands went to Japan and even a few thousand to Australia, among other locations.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Colombia