Migration
and Statistical Data
Section 2.1
Topics:
The Purpose of Migration Statistics
Identifying International Migrants
Key Producers of International Migration Statistics
Key Producers of National Migration Statistics
New Challenges
Essentials of Migration Management
Volume Two: Developing Migration Policy
Migration and Statistical Data
Migration
and Statistical Data
Section 2.1
This Section reviews the importance of sound statistical data and reliable data collection systems for
the development of appropriate migration policy. Topics One and Two describe ongoing international
development work in the area of migration statistics. Topic Three identifies the major producers of
statistics on international migration, and Topic Four provides an overview of the main sources of
statistical information at the national level. Topic Five identifies new data requirements and collection challenges.
Learning Objectives
•
increase your knowledge of major sources of migration-related statistical data at the national
and international levels
•
understand the role of statistical data in the policy development process
•
develop your ability to identify relevant statistical data and take steps to collect and use it
Background
In recent years, there has been increasing global awareness of the different forms of movement—
regular and irregular, voluntary and forced—and the impact of this movement on social, economic,
and political sectors of all countries. As international migration moves to the forefront of policy
agendas in the world, there is a corresponding need for credible and comprehensive data and statistics.
3
Section 2.1
National authorities are the key actors that collect migration data, but their practices vary from
country to country. The increase in international cooperation on migration-related issues, along with
the recognition of the need for timely and comparable migration data, has motivated many international agencies to undertake extensive efforts aimed at collecting data and at encouraging States to
harmonize data collection practices.
Currently, statistics are collected in a wide variety of forms and for a variety of different purposes.
Most States collect a certain amount of basic entry data. Traditional immigration countries and countries with active temporary or permanent migration generally have systems to collect more or less
comprehensive data on immigration to that country.
An increasing number of national statistics offices collect comprehensive information on demographic changes by compiling and collating available data from a variety of sources that often cover
specific groups of people and specific aspects of immigration and emigration.
Countries with a large number of nationals abroad are often interested in the well-being of their
expatriates. Measures to support expatriates and their families are facilitated by timely data on the
emigrated population. Information on remittances from emigrants is important in order to evaluate
their impact on savings, investment, and local development in countries of origin.
Emerging migration issues, including human trafficking, migrant smuggling, gender issues, and
migration in the context of trade in services, pose additional needs for the production of statistics at
both the national and international levels.
Guiding Questions
1
To what extent do policy makers in your State have access to the best available statistical data
2
What measures need to be taken to improve the amount or the reliability of statistical data
3
Does your State provide data to, and draw from, the major international sources for migra-
on the nature and impact of migration on your State?
collected by the national statistics office in your State?
tion-related statistics?
4
Migration and Statistical Data
4
To what extent are the UN’s Recommendations on International Migration Statistics reflected in the definitions and methodologies used by your State in gathering migration-related
statistics?
International cooperation on migration-related issues has increased and so has the need for timely and comparable migration data. One goal of migration statisticians working to develop national capacities for the production
of reliable migration statistics is to achieve comparability between countries.
Definitions and principles that permit data to be gathered and compared are essential for migration management
in the twenty-first century.
Terms and Concepts
Flows
The term used for the unstable and changing portion of an overall population figure
Register
A system whereby a record is taken and maintained. It may be based on persons entering or exiting
a State, or on a record of the State’s residents wherein information is recorded and retained on their
vital statistics and residence.
Stocks
In migration statistics, used to describe the stable portion of an overall population figure
5
Section 2.1
Topic One
The Purpose of Migration Statistics
Over the past decade, there has been increasing global awareness of the different forms of movement—regular and irregular, voluntary and forced—and the impact of this movement on social,
economic, and political sectors of all countries. As international migration moves to the forefront of
policy agendas in the world, there is a corresponding interest in credible and comprehensive data and
statistics.
Data is used to describe, reflect, and support a better understanding of what is happening, and to
make more informed policy decisions that can relate to all facets of migration, including but by
no means limited to irregular migration, labour migration, protection, and integration. Raw data is
collected, processed, and analyzed in order to make it meaningful and useful for migration policy
makers and practitioners. However, accurate and up-to-date information on international migration
levels, trends, and policies is largely incomplete.
Collecting quality data on a phenomenon as fluid and many-faceted as migration is very challenging, particularly when a large segment of migration is unauthorized and therefore undocumented.
Migration statisticians work to develop national capacities for the production of reliable migration
statistics. A key goal is to achieve comparability between countries. This is ongoing, long-term work
that will continue, but pressure to advance these goals has increased because migration issues are
increasingly being dealt with through international cooperation. Policies are being harmonized, and
greater interest on the part of governments, media, and research institutions is increasing the need
for quality migration data.
Important Points
1
In most parts of the world, international migration is strongly regulated, and the responsible
authorities keep registers on the issuance of residence permits, work permits, and on refused entries,
expulsions, asylum-seekers, and those who have been granted the status of refugee.
2
Accurate data and statistics on international migration are needed, not only to have the right
numbers for research and analysis, but also to plan for, and provide budgetary support to, the numer-
6
ous administrative and policy measures that deal with migrants and refugees. These measures serve
several purposes, including assistance, support, and control. Refugees and many other immigrant
groups are in need of special assistance for their housing, education, health care, and other forms of
support.
3
Accurate data can correct misinformation that may be current in public debate and policy
making regarding migration.
Section 1.10, Managing Perception, discusses the importance of accurate information to manage
migration.
4
Overall information on the population, including immigrants, is needed for collective plan-
ning by a society and for its infrastructure: roads, schools, hospitals, housing. The categorizations
of migrants and other principles used in this work are determined by national legislation and by
administrative practices in the various sectors involved.
Apply What You Have Learned
1
What purposes would be served by having reliable data about irregular migra-
2
What are the most important uses of statistics for migration management given
3
What are the primary purposes of the registers and records kept on migration in
4
What kinds of migration data would assist your State in collective planning,
5
What migration statistics can your State use to counter misinformation?
tion in your setting?
the policy objectives of your State?
your setting?
including planning for infrastructure?
7
The Purpose of Migration Statistics
Migration and Statistical Data
Section 2.1
Topic Two
Identifying International Migrants
A small number of important factors are used singly and in combination to determine the categories
under which people are registered as international migrants. Because the entry of foreigners is a regulated activity, citizenship is a primary piece of information that will be registered by the responsible
authorities. A second key piece of information is the purpose of entry. These two factors, citizenship
and purpose, determine certain time periods that—according to the legislation and practice of each
country—determine whether people are categorized as visitors, tourists, or migrants. Additional key
pieces of information for compiling migration statistics include country of residence and country of
birth.
Generally speaking, international migrants are those who cross international borders in order to
settle in another country, even temporarily. Tourists and short-term business travellers are not generally counted among migrants. The important points that follow discuss efforts at harmonization, and
the need to know items discuss some of the differences in classification that exist between countries,
particularly when distinguishing temporary migrants from permanent migrants.
Important Points
1
In an effort to harmonize national practices and achieve better comparability among different
countries’ migration data, statisticians of the United Nations have issued Recommendations on International Migration Statistics. The first set of recommendations for improvement and harmonization
of statistics on international migration was issued by the UN in 1953. These recommendations have
been revised and updated twice: in 1976 and 1997. These revisions were seen necessary to address
changes that occurred in the international context, such as emergence of new categories of migrants
and difficulties in implementing the previous recommendations.
The 1997 Recommendations were prepared by the UN Statistical Division (UNSD) at the request of
the UN Statistical Commission. The UNSD worked in close cooperation with the Statistical Office
of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the UN Population Division, with inputs also from the
UN regional commissions and many specialized agencies involved in international migration.
•
In the most general sense, the 1997 Recommendations define an international migrant as
8
Migration and Statistical Data
“any person who changes his or her country of usual residence”. As all tourists and daily
cross-border commuters would qualify as migrants under this definition, a further specification of time was needed. Therefore the recommendations separate long-term and shortterm migrants.
•
A long-term migrant is defined as “a person who moves to a country other than that of his
or her usual residence for a period of at least a year”, so that the country of destination
effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence.
Because new types of short-term movements other than tourism have emerged in international mobility patterns, another category of short-term migrant was defined as: “persons
who move to a country other than that of their usual residence for a period of at least 3
months but less than 12 months except in cases where the movement to that country is for
purposes of recreation, holiday, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment
or religious pilgrimage.”
2
In spite of the existence of the UN recommendations designed to facilitate international coordi-
nation in dealing with migration issues, not much effort towards harmonization and implementation
of the recommendations has been made by States. Statistics officials at the UN and Eurostat have
observed that such a non-binding document lacks the power to impose compliance.
3
It has been noted that the sensitivity of migration issues may be keeping migration data inacces-
sible to all but a small group of national authorities.
4
The UN is planning to publish a handbook in 2005 to support the practical implementation of
the 1998 Guidelines and accommodating the feedback received concerning the Guidelines.
What You Need To Know About...
Periods of Time and Definitions of “Migrant”
For the purposes of international migration statistics, the short-term migrants’ country of usual residence is considered to be their country of destination during the time they spend in it. Normally, the
country of usual residence is defined as “a country where the person has lived most of the past 12
months, or has lived there a shorter period, but intends to return there within the 12 months to live
in that country”.
9
Identifying International Migrants
•
Section 2.1
This definition of a country of usual residence is derived from Recommendations on Tourism Statistics
issued by the UN in 1994.
The World Tourism Organization defines an international visitor as somebody who travels to a
country other than his or her usual residence and outside his or her usual environment for a period
not exceeding 12 months and whose main purpose of visit is other than work. The latter specification highlights the distinction between different purposes of the movement. Tourism of even longer
duration is not considered migration whereas moving to work in another country for a period of 3-12
months is short-term migration.
What Do You Think?
The United Nations Population Division has introduced the concepts of “actual time”, which is a
migrant’s intended potential length of stay, and “legal time,” which refers to the time periods specified in legislation for a variety of categories and statuses of legal migrants. Because the actual time
can only be recorded after a stay ends, migration statistics will usually reflect the “legal time”, and
gaps may result.
Apply What You Have Learned
1
What time factors are used to define temporary migration in your setting?
2
To what extent have the UN recommendations on harmonization been imple-
3
How do different purposes for movement enter definitions that are used to track
4
What kinds of comparable data would be most valuable to your State for migra-
mented in your country and region?
migration in your setting?
tion management purposes?
10
Migration and Statistical Data
Topic Three
Key Producers of
International Migration Statistics
A number of agencies are active in the production of migration statistics at the international level.
These include the:
United Nations Population Division
UN Statistics Division
UN regional economic commissions
office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Commission of European Communities
International Labour Organization (ILO)
Council of Europe
Eurostat.
The important points that follow describe the statistical work of these international agencies.
Important Points
1
The United Nations Population Division is one of the leading international actors in compiling
global migration data, especially migration stock data obtained in population censuses. The Population Division compiles global migration statistics in cooperation with the UN Statistics Division, but
also follows migration issues and policies along with its general monitoring of world migration as one
of the main components of population developments, in addition to fertility and mortality.
2
The UN Statistics Division publishes the United Nations Demographic Yearbook on population
statistics. Some issues of the Yearbook (such as 1977, 1985, and 1996) have included special migration statistics. Data for the yearbook is gathered through questionnaires sent to governments. The
yearbook covers over 230 countries or areas in the world.
11
Key Producers of International Migration Statistics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Section 2.1
3
Some UN regional economic commissions are particularly active in compiling and developing
migration statistics.
The Statistics Division of the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which also covers Northern America and
Central Asia, has played an active role in cooperating with the UN Statistical Division and Eurostat in developing
and promoting the UN’s 1997 Recommendations discussed in Topic Two. The Population Division of the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has produced regional migration data since the early
1970s.
4
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) keeps track of
trends in the numbers of asylum-seekers, mainly with the help of regular collection of figures from
national authorities. UNHCR’s Population Data Unit combines monthly, quarterly, six-monthly, and
yearly statistics on asylum-seekers broken down by countries of origin for each receiving country.
UNHCR is the main international agency mandated to promote the protection of refugees, and leads in soliciting and compiling asylum data from governments. The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
provides a clear and internationally recognized definition of a refugee. While the Convention defines “refugee”,
application of the definition varies according to the refugee status determination process in different countries.
Nonetheless, the fact that a definition exists in such a widely adopted international legal instrument facilitates
greatly the comparability of related data.
12
Migration and Statistical Data
5
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is gathering and publishing migration
data from some regions and on some issues that are not covered by the statistics produced by other
agencies.
In the States of the former Soviet Union, excluding the three Baltic States, IOM has compiled and published three
updates of statistics and migration policies in 1997, 1999, and 2002.
Because of its extensive field presence, IOM is well placed to gather useful data on aspects and types of migration relating to the programme activities of the Organization. For example, trafficking in human beings is one
special service area of the IOM where unique information is systematically compiled for subsequent analysis and
research, which in turn helps to design new and better counter-trafficking activities. In the context of its assisted
voluntary return (AVR) programmes, IOM collects extensive standardized data from the assisted victims of trafficking. Such data, in spite of being narrowly sampled and not necessarily representative, gives valuable information for research and for further programme development, both in terms of law enforcement and assistance to
In 2002, IOM facilitated the movement of 515,000 persons whose basic bio-data and health information was
routinely compiled into a movement database. The collected health data is being used, with strict anonymity, in
documentation and research on the health aspects of migration, in further work to improve aspects of migrationrelated health, and in further project development.
6
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a body of 30 coun-
tries whose cooperation and policy development is supported by the Organization in many different
1
areas. Here migration is dealt with mainly as a social and labour market issue. In 2004, the OECD
produced its twenty-eighth annual migration report “Trends in International Migration”—also
called the SOPEMI report. This report summarizes national reports and statistical data submitted
by national correspondents from OECD member States. Each SOPEMI report also contains a few
chapters on general international migration trends and topical themes. The long sequence of yearly
SOPEMI reports provides a valuable time series on migration data, albeit limited to industrial countries and a few transition countries including Turkey and Mexico.
7
The Commission of European Communities intensively monitors migration trends and is active
in developing policy responses for many areas of migration of concern to its member States. This
work includes substantial technical assistance to promote state-of-the-art migration statistics, not
13
Key Producers of International Migration Statistics
the victims.
Section 2.1
only in the member States, but also in the recently acceded and candidate countries in Central and
Eastern Europe, and other countries that are cooperation partners in Eastern Europe and on the
southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean. As agreed in the Treaty of Amsterdam of 1998, EC
has certain competence to develop a common migration policy for the member States in an evolution
from the principle that migration is an area of coordinated national policies.
8
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is following migration from a number of perspec-
tives, including the protection of the rights of migrant workers, discrimination in the labour market,
and combating trafficking and exploitation of migrant women and children. A few of ILO’s Conventions are focused on migrants, notably Convention No. 97 on Migration for Employment (adopted
in 1949) and Migrant Workers Convention of 1975 (No. 143). ILO compiles data on migrant workers
on its International Labour Migration Database (ILM) with basic labour migration tables with time
series starting from 1986. Information is gathered through a questionnaire sent to member States. In
addition to labour migration figures, the database also contains relevant legal texts and supporting
information on legislation. ILO also actively supports Central and Eastern European Countries in
compiling migration statistics, and in 1997 published a thorough textbook “International Migration
Statistics”.
9
Other international bodies such as UNESCO, UN Centre for International Crime Prevention,
Interpol, World Bank, and regional organizations (such as the African Union and the Organization
of American States) and regional development banks, all follow at least some aspects of migration
and often collect related data. Similarly, numerous think tanks and research institutions compile
both quantitative and qualitative data. Many regional, international, and national data networks also
exchange and distribute migration data and other related information.
10
The Council of Europe works in cooperation with Eurostat and the UN in developing migra-
tion data collection. The Council of Europe publishes migration data in its annual reports “Current
Trends in International Migration in Europe” and “Recent Demographic Developments in Europe”,
which are products of the Council’s Migration Committee and Population Committee, respectively.
The Council of Europe continuously monitors new developments in the integration and human rights
of migrants through regular reporting of the members of the Migration Committee (CDMG).
11
The Statistical Office of the EC, Eurostat, publishes regular reports based on migration statistics
from member States and accession countries. Eurostat is doing extensive work in the area of methodological development aimed at harmonization of migration data in the EC and building capacity in
the national statistical offices of accession and partner countries.
14
Migration and Statistical Data
What You Need To Know About...
The EU
A more homogeneous information base is needed to support the intensified policy development of the
EU. Since countries of Eastern Europe and the Maghreb countries are the origin of a large amount
of migration to the present EU, the building of national capacities in the area of statistics production
also supports mutually coordinated migration management.
Eurostat was a key partner of the UN in developing the 1997 Recommendations on Migration Statistics.
Guided by this document, Eurostat is working with national statistics offices to pursue increased
compliance with the Recommendations and thus achieve better comparability of data. Eurostat is
preparing relevant community legislation to foster more compliance with the UN Recommendations.
Eurostat, and the principal Directorate General dealing with migration issues in the Commission of
the EC, the DG of Justice and Home Affairs, are cooperating to promote increased publicity for the
data that has been produced and exchanged within various migration data collection mechanisms
such as CIREA (asylum data) and CIREFI (immigration data).
organize Union-wide migration monitoring as gathering migration data and related research was
practiced by many governments, organizations, and academic and research institutions. The goal
was to produce data and policy information quickly for use in migration policy making in the Union
and its member States.
These feasibility studies led, in 2000, to the creation of the European Migration Information Network
(EMIN), a virtual network whose Web site is being hosted and updated by the department of Geography in the University College in London.
What You Need To Know About...
Data on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
In the special situation posed by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), data sources may be created in
the context of assistance programmes administered by governments and international relief agencies.
As IDPs are forced to move because of conflicts, persecution, or natural disasters, their often chaotic
environment and the fact that they have not crossed international borders imply that no migration
15
Key Producers of International Migration Statistics
In the 1990s, the EU conducted a thorough multi-year assessment to find the most feasible way to
Section 2.1
authority or any other governmental body systematically enters data about them in any administrative registers.
Although IDPs are forced migrants often in need of similar emergency assistance and protection as
refugees, their residence within a country’s borders means that they often fall between the official
mandates of relief agencies that are tasked to deal with international migrants (IOM) or refugees
(UNHCR). Because of the obvious need for assistance, the mandates are interpreted flexibly, and
these agencies, among many others, are actively participating in the work aimed at helping IDPs.
Many methods of data collection and estimation are used while compiling such data, sometimes with
help of satellite or other aerial photography.
The provision of international assistance to IDPs has been pursued by the UN’s Interagency Standing Committee,
led by the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. The new IDP Unit of the UN Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs is increasingly engaged in advocacy and training on behalf of IDPs. Efforts include a multi-year project
for creation of a global data source. In 1998, this project was delegated to the Geneva Office of the Norwegian
Refugee Council, a large NGO. This has led to the building of a database on IDPs that contains country profiles with
best available data, historical background, and current salient features of the situation in each country included in
the database, which is an ongoing work in progress.
Apply What You Have Learned
1
What sources of international migration statistics are used by your State?
2
What major international sources for migration-related statistics does your State
3
Which of the approaches to harmonization discussed in this Topic could
provide data to, and draw data from?
improve data collection and comparability in your setting?
16
Topic Four
Key Producers of
National Migration Statistics
For the data elements that define international migrants, such as country of residence, citizenship,
and border crossing, it is States, as the regulators of entry, which are in a key position to gather migration data.
The United Nations (especially its Statistics Division, Population Division, and the Office of the
High Commissioner for Refugees), Eurostat, and OECD’s migration unit are international organizations that, on a continuing basis, compile statistical data on international migration. However,
these agencies are dependent on data submissions from National Statistics Offices (NSOs) that are
the central players collating national statistics on migration collected by a variety of agencies within
each country.
The agencies involved in the operational activities of migration management, for example, the migration departments and border management departments, do not normally have a need for extensively
refining and developing migration statistics beyond their own policy and programme development
requirements. Such refinements are usually carried out by National Statistical Offices, ideally following the international guidelines set by UN or regional bodies, for example, Eurostat.
National Statistics Offices, therefore, compile data collected by various authorities that maintain
sectoral or functionally specific statistics that relate to their tasks. Collation of data on border crossings, asylum-seekers, and data from the fields of labour market and education, collectively allow the
statistical authorities to produce overall migration statistics for the country in question.
Important Points
1. According to the UN2, there are four main sources of migration data available to National Statistics Offices:
•
Administrative registers, such as population registers, or registers kept on foreigners in the
country
17
Key Producers of National Migration Statistics
Migration and Statistical Data
Section 2.1
•
Other administrative sources, such as databases created on issuance of work permits, residence permits, or asylum
•
Border statistics, derived from collection of information at ports of entry into and departure
from a country
•
2
Household-based inquiries such as population censuses, or other household surveys
Problems of comparability arise when national statistics are produced by applying differing
principles in different countries to enter data into population registers. In countries that keep population registers (such as the Nordic countries, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and
Japan) the register is a very valuable and quite complete source of information that in principle can
indicate, with a high level of accuracy, the residing stock of immigrants. Each country, however, may
use different types of data, or different definitions of the same term when maintaining the registers,
which decreases comparability.
In the international context, Germany enters immigrants if they intend to stay in the country more than a week.
Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland only enter immigrants into their registers if they intend to stay more than one
year. Other countries set the minimum at varying numbers of months.
3
According to the UN: “Border statistics can be considered the most appropriate for the direct
measurement of international migration.”3 Normally, States keep much closer track of entries than
exits. Among the factors that have an impact on the effectiveness and coverage of border statistics are
the popularity of the country as a preferred destination or transit country for irregular migration, its
geography, and the density of border control stations.
4
Population censuses provide good comprehensive information on the legally resident immigrant
stocks in a country. Depending on the set of questions in the census questionnaire, the numbers of
foreign-born citizens and/or non-citizens can be obtained. Strictly speaking, these are only estimates,
as censuses can never obtain full 100 per cent coverage even among the indigenous population. With
immigrants, even documented ones, the loss may be even higher.
5
Undocumented migrants rarely provide data to census questioning. In addition, censuses are
normally conducted once in ten years, so between two censuses fresh data is not always available.
18
6
In countries with no population register, the yearly migration flow figures are computed using
sample data collected from tourist surveys or other samples collected on borders.
A UN Population Division-managed project for the creation of a database of South-North migration data illustrates
the variety of practices in different countries. As so few developing countries compile migration statistics, data
were collected from eight selected countries of destination, whose main data systems and sources differed
considerably. The countries in the project were Australia (where the prime source of data was border statistics),
Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, and Sweden (where the main sources were population registers), Canada
and the US (where the sources were administrative records on residence permits granted), and the UK (where
the source was an international passenger survey).
Apply What You Have Learned
1
How useful are national censuses for migration management in your setting?
2
What principles are used to enter data into population registers in your State?
3
What sources of migration data are used by your State?
4
What measures can be taken to improve the amount or the reliability of statisti-
How comparable are these principles to those used by other States?
cal data collected by the national statistics office in your State?
19
Key Producers of National Migration Statistics
Migration and Statistical Data
Section 2.1
Topic Five
New Challenges
The sources of statistics identified in earlier Topics include only officially documented migrants.
Those who are illegally residing in a country are not covered in such data. To arrive at complete
figures, the irregular and undocumented migrants need to be added. This is difficult because undocumented and underground migrants are not found in books and registers. Therefore, the actual population or levels of immigration, including the undocumented, is always only an estimate. In addition,
persons moving within the definition of GATS mode 4 are not regularly identified as such because
these movements often fall within more general labour migration categories.
Irregular migration and trade are phenomena that also escape conventional methods of data collection, although each for different reasons.
Research on the use of migration statistics to estimate irregular migration has resulted in some innovative approaches.
The United States General Accounting Office developed the use of a set of three question cards where a number
of migrant statuses are grouped in a different way, mixing irregular and regular statuses, in each of the three
cards. As migrant respondents are asked to place themselves in one of the three groups in each card, the method
is designed to produce, by exclusion, an estimate of “irregulars” among the respondents.
For better management of irregular migration, and to address emerging phenomena such as trafficking in human beings, new methods are required to develop better data.
An inter-agency coordination meeting held in July 2002 under the auspices of the UN Population
Division identified a number of areas for continued effort in the collection of migration-related
statistics:
•
enhanced cooperation between governments and relevant international agencies in sharing
data and information on statistics-related activities
•
•
further capacity building
continued methodological work with high priority given to the UN Recommendations on
20
Migration and Statistical Data
Statistics on International Migration
•
improved data to support relevant migration research on timely topics including trafficking,
remittances, and flows of skilled migrants, including short-term movements
•
intensified coordination between involved international agencies.
The following important points and “need to know” items for this topic identify five challenging
areas for developing statistical data and coordinating inter-agency efforts:
Trafficking in human beings
Women migrants
Migration and trade in services
Data challenges
Projecting future trends
New challenges
•
•
•
•
•
Important Points
1
An internationally recognized definition of trafficking in human beings was obtained in 2000
when the UN General Assembly adopted the international Convention Against Transnational Organized
Crime and two annexed protocols, one on human trafficking and the other on migrant smuggling.
Although this commonly supported definition has helped in coordination of international countertrafficking efforts, the application of the definition has not yet had the expected effect on harmonization of national legislations. The definition itself is quite broad and allows flexible application. This
may bring advantages by way of having all related crimes under the umbrella of the legal instrument,
but from the point of view of data collection, may not offer precise enough specification to relevant
authorities for data collection.
Section 3.12, Irregular Migration, provides more information on the definition of trafficking and its
criminalization.
2
Trafficking in human beings has spread to every continent, involving many kinds of severe
violations of human rights and human dignity. Trafficking is an under reported and covert crime,
resulting in a lack of good information and data on the phenomenon that limits effective measures to
address it.
3
Currently available figures on trafficking in human beings and on irregular migration overall, at
an aggregate level, always estimates. More exact figures, such as those on border apprehensions, prosecuted traffickers, or on victims assisted in various programmes, are always partial samples and are
very rarely statistically representative. As the total is not known, the representative validity of these
21
Section 2.1
samples cannot normally be tested. However, such programme-specific databases as the one compiled
by IOM in the Balkans while assisting trafficking victims to return offer thorough information and
help to understand and fight the phenomenon.
4
To develop and improve data collection in this area, the following actions need to be taken:
•
•
Raise awareness of the importance of having better data on trafficking.
Provide assistance to countries to build a capacity for such data compilation, and to ensure
that such activity is given priority.
•
•
•
Promote more active use of existing sources both in national and regional forums.
Increase coordination in data collection among agencies active in counter-trafficking work.
Carry out more comparative research on how to assess better uses of existing sources of data,
and the possibility of finding further unused sources.
Issues related to migrant smuggling and human trafficking are discussed in Section 3.12, Irregular
Migration.
What You Need To Know About...
Women Migrants
The feminization of migration is one of the current trends in global migration. Global estimates
produced by the UN4 show a steady long-term trend of increased female participation in global migration from 46.6 per cent in 1960 to nearly 49 per cent in 2000.
In 2000, the proportion of female migrants was lowest in Northern Africa (42.8 per cent), and highest
in Europe (52.4 per cent). From 1960 to 2000, when the global number of all migrants rose from 60
to 130 million, the percentage share of women decreased in only two world regions - Northern Africa
and Southern Asia.4
Gender segregation in migration statistics is important. Although the global difference between the
shares of women and men is not dramatic, female migrants in many regions require special attention, because of the types of jobs they typically occupy (such as domestic work or low-paid manufacturing), and where exploitative and degrading treatment frequently occur. The migrant-sending
countries are naturally interested in the well-being of their expatriates, and of women in particular,
because of their special vulnerability; therefore, reliable data is needed to enable better monitoring
and increased safeguarding of the human rights of women migrants.
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Migration and Statistical Data
Issues related to the impact of gender on migration policy development are discussed in Section
2.10, Migration and Gender.
What You Need To Know About...
Migration and Trade in Services
Improving available data has been identified as a priority by the international community in order
to facilitate the difficult WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services negotiations on movements of
persons related to trade in services.5 The availability of statistics on the movement of persons in the
use of different principles to determine the status of people entering countries makes it practically
impossible to identify people who enter for a temporary stay to provide services in the host country.
Facilitated cross-border mobility of service providers from developing countries to the developed
ones was a difficult issue in the Uruguay trade round, concluded in 1994. This issue is likewise
expected to pose a challenge to the present Doha Development Round, originally scheduled to be
finalized by the end of 2004.
The obstacles to obtaining comparable data relate mainly to the status of the migrant and the time
he or she will spend in the host country. As mentioned in the important points for Topic Two, different systems based on length of stay are used to record and categorize immigrants in administrative
registers. It may be difficult to collect data that distinguishes service providers and their period of
entry. It is already difficult within countries to identify persons whose movements are covered by the
General Agreement in Trade and Services (GATS). Comparisons between countries are also difficult,
because the categorizations used for immigrants vary greatly from country to country. The GATS
defines stay under mode 4 as temporary in that the residence period is defined, but in some cases the
period may be for several years. The cut off time for entering temporary migrants into population
registers varies from seven days to one year, and this leads to even less clarity because some service
providers are entered into population registers as permanent migrants if their stay continues longer
than one year. Service providers covered by the GATS represent only a highly skilled fraction of those
migrating for work, and those who are intra-corporate transferees. Also, it is always not clear who is
a service provider and who might be serving a subcontractor actually providing goods not services.
According to UN Recommendations, those entering for more than a year should be categorized as
long-term migrants.
Trade in services data on the movement of people has been the most sought after. Other relevant data
would be the relative values of trade in the four modes of GATS delivery. From the information that
23
New challenges
context of trade in services can provide a concrete and factual basis for trade negotiations, but the
Section 2.1
has been obtained, it seems that the mode 4, movement of natural persons, is the mode with the least
trade involved. On the other hand, there is a possibility of serious bias, as most often more than one
mode is involved in the trade transactions. Thus, movement of people is involved in the creation of
commercial presence (mode 3), and cross-border supply (mode 1).
Section 2.4, Migration and Trade, and Section 2.6, Migration and Labour, have more information on
the General Agreement on Trade in Services.
What Do You Think?
The lack of clear quantitative data on mode 4 type of movement6 clearly hinders policy development and dialogue and does not make it any easier for the trade negotiators to argue in favour of,
or against, liberalization of mode 4. Planning policies to respond to skill shortages and other labour
market measures is also made more difficult with the lack of such data.
What You Need To Know About...
Data Challenges for Migration Policy Makers
The availability of migration data is unpredictable and unsystematic. There is no central international
data bank for the data that is currently collected to be entered, compiled, and shared. Nor is there in
most countries a central national repository for migration data.
Accuracy, or how well the data reflects reality, can be difficult to achieve due to a host of factors,
including the movement of migrants within the host country, the challenge of assigning each migrant
to a distinct migration category, and human error.
The comprehensiveness of international migration data depends upon the extent to which data is regularly collected and compiled. Much of the data on migration is dispersed among different government
agencies and often not collated or compared.
Timeliness of data is a crucial factor when crafting migration policies. Use of outdated statistics results
in unsuccessful programmes and policies that do not reflect actual trends and migrant needs.
Comparability refers to the challenge of establishing common migration terminology and definitions
among States. It is difficult to achieve comparability of data between governments, when the infor-
24
Migration and Statistical Data
mation collected is influenced by its internal legislation, structures, policies, and priorities. Any
comparisons must be undertaken carefully to clearly reflect differences in migration labels and the
manner of data collection.
The issue of confidentiality is an important consideration in the collection and sharing of data. Often,
privacy legislation or other legal acts prevent governments from sharing information. In some
instances, detailed data is collected but it is only available for internal use. A delicate balance needs
to be achieved between disclosing necessary information and protecting the privacy of individuals
What You Need To Know About...
The Challenge of Projecting Future Trends
It is difficult to produce migration projections or other hypothetical figures that estimate future
trends. Migration data are normally registered according to actual border crossings, from census
data, or from population registers. Some attempts carried out by Eurostat and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) have shown that, in peacetime, one can assume that,
for major immigrant groups, a linear trend in previous years will offer a good basis for assuming
continuation of certain basic levels.
Eurostat and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) have shown that the
existing migrant stock (and the nationalities represented in it) and economic and demographic variables have an influence on future immigration levels.
For more sudden movements generated by conflicts or national disasters, any possible early warning
procedures would benefit from scenarios on expected displacements. A custom-made model is needed
for each country. In producing migration projections, the explanatory factors change from country
to country. For example, some countries are more prone to attract displaced people than others. The
model’s computations need to be complemented by softer expert assessment and evaluation in order
to finalize a projection.
25
New challenges
and State security.
Section 2.1
Apply What You Have Learned
1
Which of the areas discussed in this Topic present the most serious challenges in
your setting?
•
Trafficking in human beings
•
Women migrants
•
Migration and trade in services
•
Projecting future trends
2
How can statistics be used to make human trafficking an overt and reported crime?
3
What statistical data could improve the implementation of GATS?
4
How well is the gender separation of statistics managed in your State? What are
5
How can statistics help address the problem of irregular migration?
6
How are the data challenges described in this topic addressed in your State?
the issues?
26
Migration and Statistical Data
Concluding Remarks
This Section identifies sources of migration-related data at the national and international levels.
Some of the limitations of these data arise as a result of differing definitions practices and variations
in methods of collection, sampling, and analysis. Efforts to overcome these limitations are ongoing
and numerous. Improving national capacity and comparability between States are important objectives for migration managers.
Resources
Bilsborrow, R.E., H. Graeme, A. S. Oberai, and H. Zlotnik,
1997
International Migration Statistics: Guidelines for Improving Data Collection Systems,
International Labour Organization, Geneva.
NIDI,
2001
International Migration: An Unpredictable Component? Netherlands Interdisciplinary
Demographic Institute (NIDI), Project brief, Available at:
http://www.nidi.nl/research/prj70203.html
OECD Secretariat,
2003
Another look at the international comparability of migration Statistics, Note prepared for
the OECD Working Party on Migration on the variety in registration procedures
and how to harmonize the practices, June.
UN,
1998
“Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration, Revision 1”; Statistical
Papers Series M, No. 58, Rev. 1. United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, Statistics Division.
2002
International Migration 2002, United Nations Population Division, New York:
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/ittmig2002/ittmigrep2002.htm
European Migration Information Network (EMIN), Department of Geography, University College ,
London: http://www.emin.geog.ucl.ac.uk/
Eurostat’s migration statistics, Demographic Statistics Yearbook, and Statistics in the Focus bulletins on specific migration themes.
27
Section 2.1
The Norwegian Refugee Council database: http://www.idpproject.org
Updates of UNHCR’s periodical asylum seeker data: www.unhcr.ch
Endnotes
1
The Western industrial countries, four Central and Eastern European Countries, Mexico, Korea
and Turkey.
2
Pages 25-34: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesM/SeriesM_58rev1E.pdf
3
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/migcoord2002/popdiv.pdf
4
Zlotnik, Hania: “The Global Dimensions of Female Migration”, Migration Information Source, 01
March 2003, Available at:
http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=109
5
United Nations Interagency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services:
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/migcoord2002/uninteragency.pdf
6
An Article of the General Agreement in Trades and Services dealing with the supply of a service
by a service supplier of one member, through presence of natural persons of a member in the
territory of any other member.
28