Replacement Migration

According to wikipedia, replacement theory is “a white nationalist, far-right conspiracy theory”.[1]

Wikipedia claims, “conspiracy theorists attribute [replacement theory] to intentional policies advanced by… the United Nations…”[1:1]

But, in fact, the United Nations has openly published their research on the implications of replacement migration theory.[2]

Differing from the conspiracy theory mentioned above, according to wikipedia “replacement migration theory” is an accepted theory of migration, which is “needed for a region to achieve a particular demographic, economic or social objective.”[3]

The wikipedia article somewhat ironically states a criticism,

Certain countries may be opposed to international immigration… The native population of said countries may also resent and oppose the loss of national identity, homogeneous national culture, and the loss of advantages for native people that replacement immigration leads to.[3:1]

Is Replacement Theory distinct and separate from Replacement Migration Theory?

What are the origins of each? The chronology and context matter.

The wikipedia article on “The Great Replacement conspiracy” has over 180 citations all from dates ranging between 2019-2022.[1:2] Is this “conspiracy” a relatively new ideological emergence?

Compare this to the wikipedia article on the Demographic concept of “Replacement Migration Theory,” which has 16 citations. The oldest citation being from a peer-reviewed journal dating back to 2001.[3:2]


  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Replacement ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/replacement-chap5.pdf ↩︎

  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replacement_migration ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎