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Introduction: Time to invest in migration data
Frank Laczko, Emma Borgnäs and Marzia Rango
The need for better data on migration
The first objective of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is about improving migration data. It is striking that the Global Compact for Migration places such emphasis on the need for more and better data to ensure the implementation of Global Compact for Migration objectives and commitments. Decision makers around the world need timely, reliable, accessible and comparable data on international migration to devise appropriate policies. Sound data and analysis can enable policymakers to identify an issue, design a policy response, and implement and evaluate relevant interventions. Lack of migration data, lack of other sectoral data relevant to making migration policy decisions, or poor presentation of data, can lead to misperceptions about the scale of migration and its effects. Effective use of data can help transform the migration discourse – which is often driven by emotion and political sensitivities – into one based on evidence. Even when data are available, they are often not used to their full potential. This includes the vast amount of “Big Data” that is being produced every day through the use of digital devices and services around the world.
The United Nations currently counts 258 million people as international migrants but, surprisingly, we know relatively little about global migration trends. Peter Sutherland, the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Migration, summed up the challenge in 2017: “The global community is still struggling to establish basic facts, such as who migrants are, where they are, where they come from, and where they have moved to.” Despite widespread agreement on the importance of data to manage migration effectively, the current availability of reliable and comparable data on migration is still very limited.
More recently, Liu Zhenmin, the United Nations UnderSecretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, commented on this situation: “Three years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development], the picture for accurate and disaggregated migration data is not optimistic. There is a paucity of basic data on international migration, and existing data are not fully utilized or shared.” For example, he noted, “17 per cent of countries in Africa and 12 per cent in Asia have not produced official statistics on the number of international migrants since 2005.”
There has been no lack of recommendations to improve data on migration, but progress in delivering on them has been slow. Twenty years ago, for example, the United Nations produced a set of “Recommendations on International Migration”, noting that “despite the importance of international migration, the statistics needed to characterize migration flows, monitor changes over time and provide governments with a solid basis for the formulation and implementation of policy are often lacking”. In 2008, a special international commission was set up to assess how to improve data on migration and development. The commission made five key recommendations, such as encouraging all countries to add basic questions about migration to their censuses, and promoting the wider use of administrative data on migration. However, there has been relatively little monitoring of the extent to which such recommendations have been implemented.
There are many reasons why data on migration are often limited, not fully analysed, shared or used by policymakers. One of the problems has been that decision makers have not always been convinced of the value of investing in migration data, despite evidence to the contrary. If migration is regarded as a sensitive national issue, little priority may be given to data collection. Even if data are collected, they may not be fully shared within or between countries, if policymakers fear that data may be misinterpreted. Migration data collection can be highly politicized, and countries may fear publishing or sharing certain sorts of data.
International migration is a dynamic and often fastchanging phenomenon, and therefore hard to measure. Migrants in irregular situations may be difficult to identify and may not want to be counted by national authorities, for fear of being apprehended. Conducting representative surveys of migrants may be challenging when migrants account for only a small percentage of the national population and are concentrated in particular localities. Comparing statistics on migration across countries is difficult when countries use different definitions of an international migrant. From a statistical perspective, the United Nations defines a long-term international migrant 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 (12 months). However, not all countries apply this definition consistently.
While the best migration data often come from censuses, these can be several years old. Censuses usually only include a limited number of questions on migration, and thus cannot provide the detailed information needed for a comprehensive analysis of either the causes or the consequences of international migration. In order to conduct such analysis, more specialized surveys of migrant populations are needed, but there is currently no global migration survey programme to help countries gather such data. Surveys can help us better understand the drivers and impacts of migration and provide vital information concerning which migrants are most vulnerable and in need of assistance. Administrative sources of data, such as visa applications or residence permits, can potentially provide useful information about migration flows; however, these records are usually collected for administrative purposes and hardly used for statistical purposes, or systematically disseminated by countries.
Why the Global Compact is a historic opportunity to improve data on migration
On 13 July 2018, countries around the world agreed upon the text of a first-ever Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The Global Compact for Migration, expected to be adopted in December 2018, is the most comprehensive attempt to date to develop a shared vision of how countries across the globe can work together to enhance the benefits and reduce the risks associated with migration. The first of the 23 objectives of the Global Compact for Migration is to “Collect and utilize accurate and disaggregated data as a basis for evidence-based policies.” The Global Compact for Migration then proposes 11 actions that should be taken to strengthen the global evidence base on migration, to better inform the public discourse, and to allow for the effective monitoring of the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration commitments over time. The recommended actions include measures to provide increased capacity-building assistance, add migration questions to censuses, make better use of administrative data, conduct specialized migration surveys and produce national migration profiles. While many of these recommendations are not new, they have not been given such prominence before in such a high-level global migration framework.
The Global Compact for Migration also contains some new data recommendations. For example, reference is made to the need to develop further the Global Migration Data Portal, which was launched in December 2017. The Portal is a recent project developed by IOM in collaboration with other United Nations agencies to help policymakers, researchers, the media and anyone interested in migration find and understand key sources of data on international migration. It includes a user-friendly interactive world map, sections explaining the strengths and weaknesses of migration data by theme, and a guide to capacity-building tools on migration.
The Global Compact for Migration migration data recommendations also include an important reference to new data sources, including “Big Data”. Innovations in technology and reductions in the cost of digital devices worldwide mean that digital data are being produced in real time, at an unprecedented rate. There are concrete examples of where Big Data have been used to improve migration policy and responses. For example, analysing mobile phone call detail records in Nepal helped to understand large movements of population following the earthquake that struck the country in 2015, contributing to more timely and effective responses by authorities and relief organizations, in the absence of official statistics. Other types of data, such as social media and search query data, have been used to understand aspects of migrant integration in cities across eight European Union Member States – from residential segregation to migrant well-being – through the Data Challenge on Integration of Migrants in Cities issued by the European Commission.
Finally, while Objective 1 entirely focuses on data and evidence on migration, data are also referenced throughout the remaining objectives. Robust nationallevel data are required for developing a national migration policy across all thematic areas covered by the Global Compact for Migration, as highlighted in this Data Bulletin series. Examples include strengthening mechanisms for biometric data-sharing (Objective 4); collecting, centralizing and systematizing data regarding the bodies of deceased migrants (Objective 8); and international cooperation agreements to share data to dismantle smuggling networks (Objective 9). Objective 17 also reiterates the commitment to an evidence-based public discourse on migration and migrants to shape a more accurate understanding of the phenomenon.
Data alone do not guarantee good policies, but a solid evidence base will be needed to help countries make informed key decisions regarding the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration. Data will be needed to identify challenges, design responses, monitor implementation and evaluate the effects of migration programmes and policies in the next decades. This volume highlights the current strengths and weaknesses of migration-related data and the many initiatives that have been taken to inform evidence-based policymaking on many different aspects of migration relevant to the Global Compact for Migration.
Aims and scope of this volume
This volume contains 17 Data Bulletins produced by IOM as well as external experts and partner agencies during 2018. The Data Bulletin series was initially conceived to summarize in an accurate and accessible fashion existing evidence on migration to support discussions and followup activities related to the Global Compact for Safe,
Orderly and Regular Migration. As Data Bulletins were produced over the course of 2018, it became clear that a compilation of the various issues into one edited volume would be helpful to provide a comprehensive – albeit nonexhaustive – overview of key data issues of relevance to the Global Compact for Migration, as governments move towards its adoption and implementation.
Together, Data Bulletins in this volume span a broad range of topics covered by the Global Compact for Migration, highlighting currently available data sources as well as data gaps and challenges relevant to each of them. Each Data Bulletin contains a few illustrative examples of initiatives and recommendations of investments needed to strengthen the evidence base underpinning the respective thematic area. As such, this collection is meant to provide a useful resource for decision makers as they begin to think about implementation of the Global Compact for Migration and the related data needs.
The volume is structured into two sections. The first is dedicated to objective 1 of the Global Compact for Migration and broadly looks at practices, tools and new initiatives for data collection, analysis and sharing. The second section explores in more detail data related to various global migration topics covered by the Global Compact for Migration objectives, ranging from recruitment costs and ethical recruitment to return and reintegration. Each of the issues includes a brief outline of what is known about current trends and highlights new initiatives or case studies as examples of good data practice. Rather than providing a comprehensive guide to the topics covered, this volume offers the reader a summary of the current state-of-play in terms of migration data in a curated selection of thematic areas, to help spur thinking around how to improve the global evidence base, including data at the local, national, regional and global levels for better migration outcomes in the coming years.