International, internal migration
and ethno-cultural characteristics:
Proposed changes to CES
recommendations
UNECE Task Force on migration and
ethno-cultural characteristics
Jane Badets (Task Force Leader)
Geneva, September 2014
International and Internal Migration: Overview of
proposed changes
Current recommendations were comprehensive.
Task force recommendations:
• Re-organization and re-writing of the chapter:
• Same concepts but presented in different order;
• Distinguish international migration vs internal migration;
• Present logical flow of concepts throughout chapter.
• Proposed changes focussed on:
• Clarifying concepts;
• Guidance related to the reporting of such items as country of
citizenship, dual/multiple citizenships; year of arrival, population
with refugee background, Internationally displaced persons, etc.
• No major change to list of core and non-core topics.
International and Internal Migration:
Areas of proposed changes
Population groups relevant to international migration:
• Moved forward in the chapter so as to outline the main migration
concepts and groups early in the chapter.
• Removed the term “foreigner”: instead foreign born/native;
citizens/non-citizens; permanent/temporary residence status, etc.
Country of birth:
• Split country of birth (international) and place of birth (internal).
• “Born in Country” to capture changes to boundaries in cases of
war or of dissolution of countries (International border changes).
International and Internal Migration:
Areas of proposed changes (cont’d)
Country of citizenship:
• Should be separate concept than country of birth.
• Many collect information on dual/multiple citizenships;
clarification on how to report was provided (i.e. first country
being where the respondent lives).
Citizenship Acquisition:
• Now appears after Country of citizenship concept.
Ever resided abroad and year of arrival:
• Clarified these concepts to refer to international migrants, as
well as returning nationals.
Country of previous usual residence abroad:
• It was decided to not promote it as a core topic (burden for
some countries to collect).
International and Internal Migration:
Areas of proposed changes (cont’d)
Reason for migration:
• A number of countries collect this information (censusbased);
• Often multiple reasons were collected;
• Reasons were expanded slightly to reflect the information
collected.
Population with refugee background
• Inclusion of a paragraph on the definition of a refugee and
clarification on the count of the stock of refugees.
Remaining non-core topics (e.g. birthplace of parents
citizenship acquisition): no changes recommended.
International and Internal Migration:
Areas of proposed changes (cont’d)
Internal Migration Section:
• Population groups relevant to internal migration
• Place of birth (core topic)
• Previous place of usual residence and date of arrival in the
current place (core topic):
•
•
Clarification needed to distinguish this concept from “Ever
resided abroad and year of arrival”;
Reduced vs. extended mode: provided guidance on the fact
that one or the other mode could be collected (not all
countries collect both modes).
International and Internal Migration:
Areas of proposed changes (cont’d)
Year and month of arrival in the current place:
• Moved this concept under section on Internal migration
Place of usual residence one year prior to the census
Place of usual residence five years prior to the census (non-core
topic)
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) – derived non core topic:
• Moved this concept under section on Internal migration
International and Internal Migration:
Areas of proposed changes (concluded)
Some potential ones, but did not adopt:
• Emigration;
• Length of intended stay to distinguish short vs. long-term
international migrants;
• Birthplace of grandparents.
Points of Discussion
• Migration Chapter:
–
Distinguish international migration as a new derived topic and its
contribution above the existing derived topic “persons with
foreign/national background’
•
–
–
Is the derived topic “Persons with foreign/national background” still
needed?
“Persons of mixed parental background” concept should be renamed to avoid confusion with ethnicity . Recommendation:
“Persons whose parents are of a ‘mixed country of birth’
background”
Recommend reformatting the grouping of the population group
definitions to:
1 Foreign born
(1.1) Foreign population
(1.2) Nationals
2 Native born
(2.1) Foreign population
(2.2) Nationals
Ethno-cultural Characteristics: Overview
No major changes to the chapter and no new topics emerged:
• Kept most of the concepts as non-core (ethnicity, religion and
language) as some UNECE countries may be prohibited by law to
collect these topics.
Clarification of text and concepts where required:
• Consultations should be undertaken with representatives of
ethnic, language, and religious communities.
• Specific questions asked for each topic should be guided by the
information needs of the country.
• Ethnic classification should be treated as dynamic with movable
boundaries – may lead to non-comparability between censuses.
• Can be measured using a variety of concepts: ancestry, ethnic
group, cultural origins, nationality, race, colour, etc.
Ethnicity: Areas of proposed changes
Changes emphasize new text. Main features cover:
• Kept as a non-core topic:
• Regarded as important information but potentially sensitive to
collect.
• Indigenous populations to be recognised.
• Included new paragraphs to address more fully:
• Reporting issues (subjective and based on respondents
understanding of the concept);
• The dynamic nature of this concept and possible challenges for
tracking changes across censuses.
Ethnicity: Areas of proposed changes
• Included new paragraphs to address more fully (cont’d):
• Possible bias that can arise from the wording of questions, self
declaration and mixed ethnicity may require multi-response
options (respondents should feel free to indicate more than one
ethnic affiliation);
• Small populations may lead to disclosure risks;
• International comparison is not recommended as structure of
these questions will vary widely across countries.
Religion: Areas of proposed changes
Changes emphasize new text. Main features cover:
• Kept as a non-core topic:
• Relevant for understanding cultural diversity.
• Included new paragraphs to address:
•
•
•
•
Information used for monitoring equality and discrimination.
Subjective, politically sensitive, and response is voluntary.
Often small populations and potential for disclosure issues.
Specific questions asked should be guided by information needs
of the country. Special care should be taken to demonstrate to
respondents that appropriate data protection and disclosure
control measures are in place.
Religion: Areas of proposed changes
• Included new paragraphs to address: (cont’d)
• Emphasized that the specific questions to be asked should be
guided by the information needs of the country.
• Definitions and concepts unchanged, either:
- A religious or spiritual belief or faith, regardless of whether
or not this belief or faith is represented by an organised
group; or
- An affiliation with, or membership of, an organised group
or body having a specific religious or spiritual tenets and/or
practices
Language: Areas of proposed changes
Changes emphasize new text. Main features cover:
• Kept as a non-core topic.
• Included new paragraphs to address:
• Definition includes addressing official languages of a country – that
is, a country may (if necessary) include questions on official
languages to meet legislative or policy requirements.
• Multiple languages may be collected – should include explicit
instructions to indicate that respondents may report more than
one language if they are able to speak/write more than one
language.
• The challenges to display multiple-reporting information in
tabulations should be taken into consideration when designing
questions collecting multiple languages.
Language: Areas of proposed changes
• Included new paragraphs to address (concluded):
• Importance of open responses to capture all possible languages.
• Consideration to provide instructions for those who are deaf,
mute and deaf-mute.
• Recommend that if countries collect more than one language
question, the content of these questions should vary depending
on the country’s information needs.
Points of Discussion
Comments or questions?