Transcript Slide 1

Guidelines for Inter-Country
Migration Data Exchange
International migration is an area of growing concern

Policy makers of sending countries concerned about the
impact of emigration on their societies and economies

Policy makers of receiving countries concerned about
managing the size of migration flows and subsequent
integration of immigrants

Producing valid estimates of the size of emigration is a
challenge
7/21/2015
Slide 2
Benefits of Data Exchange
•
Provides information missing from regular
national data collection systems (e.g. allows
for estimation of the number of citizens
living abroad)
•
Provides information about the
characteristics and conditions of citizens
living abroad
July 21, 2015
Slide 3
UNECE related activities
•
Task Force on Measuring Emigration
(2005-8)

•
Guidelines on the use of data on international
immigration to improve emigration data of
sending countries (2009)
Migration Clearing House database
(12 CIS countries, 2009-2011)

July 21, 2015
(2007 conducted pilot study)
Slide 4
UNECE Data Exchange Exercise
• Task Force on Measuring Emigration Using Data
Collected by the Receiving Country (October 2005).
• Pilot Project collected and analyzed migration data
from 19 different countries.
• The countries were divided into 4 clusters
representing sub-regions with the following group
leaders: Canada, Estonia, Portugal and
Switzerland.
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Slide 5
Task Force on Measuring Emigration
Templates Used To Exchange Data among participating
countries:
Flow Data
▪ country of last residence
▪ country of citizenship
▪ country of birth
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Stock Data
▪ country of birth
▪ country of current
citizenship
▪ country of citizenship at
birth
▪ country of birth of
parents
Slide 6
Example of inter-country comparison of data on migrants
Number of persons
Data on flows from Italy to Switzerland
10,000
9,000
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Immigration data (provided by Sw itzerland)
7/21/2015
2000
2001
2002
2003
Emigration data (provided by Italy)
Slide 7
Major Findings
• In general, for most countries it is more difficult to collect
information about emigration than immigration.
• Data on flows are in general more complete for destination
countries than for origin countries.
• Immigration data are not uniform across individual
countries as they serve the countries’ own policy-related
goals.
• Potential for sharing data to improve migration statistics
was evident.
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Slide 8
Conclusions from data exchange exercise
•
Immigration data from receiving countries can be used to
improve estimates of emigration in sending countries
•
Data on immigration is not always easily accessible by
interested users (makes data exchange necessary)
•
The improvement of the quality of data on international
immigration is crucial, regardless of the importance of using
immigration data to estimate emigration
•
Need to develop guidelines for the exchange of data
•
Consideration of creating a central clearing house for
collecting and storing migration data to facilitate the
accessibility of statistics;
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Slide 9
The Guidelines for Exchanging Data to Improve
Emigration Statistics
(1st draft November 2006, approved by Conference of European
Statisticians, June 2009)
General objectives
•
Provide guidance to countries considering improvement of their
emigration data by using immigration data of receiving countries.
•
Draw the attention of countries producing immigration data to the
fact that countries of emigration are an important user of their
data.
•
Suggest a role for International Organizations working in the field
of data collection on international migration
Slide 10
Content of the Guidelines

-
Emigration data
Different needs and typologies
Population estimates
- Estimates of emigrant stock and flow
- Short-term emigration
-
-
National data sources
-
Strengths and weaknesses of statistical
sources
Slide 11
Content of the Guidelines
(cont.)

Critical issues when using immigration
data as a possible source of emigration
data
•
•
•
•
•
Coverage of the source
Definition of international migrant/migration
Data accuracy
Availability of country of origin data
Different time references due to status
adjustments of migrants
• Availability of metadata.
Slide 12
Content of the Guidelines
(cont.)

Improving availability, quality, and
accessibility of data
How to best meet sending countries’ data
needs
Detail of available immigration data in
destination countries
Dissemination of and access to data:
•
-
-
-
Standardized tables for immigration data
compilation and exchange
Migration Database managed by Intl. Organizations
Slide 13
Guidelines-based best
practices

Countries seeking emigration data
- Prioritise information needs (e.g. specify main
destination countries, total emigration vs. specific
groups of migrants, etc.)
- Explore data availability at destinations
- Request customised data sets
- Evaluate data received
- Develop data exchange protocols
Slide 14
Guidelines-based best
practices

Countries producing immigration data
- Expand details of data published to accommodate
information needs of immigrants’ sending countries
(e.g. country of origin, country of previous residence, citizenship,
characteristics)
-
-
-
Improve access to metadata information
Assess dissemination of existing sources (e.g. census
tabulations)
Explore usability of untapped sources (e.g. LFS)
Slide 15
Guideline applications

Canada, USA, UK, Italy, Poland, Australia
(country perspective)
- Expanded the coverage of data on flows from
Canada to the US
- Enabled analysis of where emigrants moved to

CIS countries (regional perspective)
- Allowed for examination of regional differences
- Facilitated discussion on data collection methodologies
- Lead to creation of Migration Clearing House Database
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/publications/Guidelines_i
mprove_emigration_statistics.pdf
Slide 16
Migration Clearing House Database
2007: UNECE Study on data exchange in 11 CIS
countries
2009: Guidelines on exchanging data to improve
emigration statistics, suggested:
a) Set of standard tables on stocks and flows for
bilateral exchanges among countries
b) Setting up clearing house maintained by an Intl.
Org. to facilitate data sharing among countries
July 21, 2015
Slide 17
Background
2010: UN Development Account Project on
migration – Objectives included:
 Improving
migration data quality
 Promoting exchange and dissemination of
information on migration
 Feb. 2010: Workshop in Bishkek (CIS countries)
 Agreed
to set of 9 tables on basic migration data to
be transmitted to UNECE by participating countries
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Slide 18
Other international initiatives

Other data collection, sharing, dissemination
initiatives in the UNECE region:
•
•
•
•
•
Joint migration questionnaire (Eurostat, UNSD,
UNECE…) (currently discontinued)
Eurostat data collection (EU regulation, incl. candidates)
UNSD Questionnaire on flows (under revision) + Quest.
on stocks (census data)
UN Global Migration Database (UN Pop. Div.) (stocks)
based on UNSD quest. & other sources
Other initiatives by OSCE, IOM, ILO, OECD etc.
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Slide 19
General principles
1.
Platform for sharing and dissemination of
basic data on international migration
2.
Use tables developed for Bishkek
workshop as initial set of data
 country of birth, citizenship, country of
previous residence, citizenship acquisition,
etc.
3.
Start with CIS countries (expand to other
countries?)
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Slide 20
General conditions
 The Clearing House should:
•
NOT duplicate other existing activities
• Provide clear added value for users
 Conditions for sustainability:
•
Active participation of countries
• Sustainable data transmission procedures
and data processing given the resources
available in NSIs and UNECE
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Slide 21
Technical IT aspects
Data format:
CSV
files produced with Excel
Data transmission:
by
email (or UNECE downloads from NSI
website)
Technical requirements:
Minimal:
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Excel and email
Slide 22
Organizational aspects
1.
Identify a focal point for each country

Collects data and maintains contacts with
other data producers in the country
 In principle, position located in NSI
2.
Develop data transmission procedures
and discuss with focal points (UNECE)
3.
Data to be collected by UNECE every two
years

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New or revised data can be sent by countries
to UNECE at anytime, in addition to bi-annual
collection
Slide 23
Accomplishments in 2011-12
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Created IT infrastructure
Created network of focal points
Finalized 1st round of data collection based
on Bishkek tables
Used data from Bishkek tables as initial input
for clearing house
Limited Public release of clearing house
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Slide 24
Next Steps (2012-13):
Migration Clearing House
Development Strategy
Provide metadata for Tables in English
and Russian
•
Finish inputting table notes
• Add information on data sources
• Request note clarifications from countries
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Slide 25
Next Steps, cont.

Data review (complete evaluation of
current data quality)
•
Review of all Country Tables (validity
checks)
• Identify potential problems and compile list
of data for re-submission/verification
• Request revised data from countries
• Input revised data (and remove data that
cannot be revised or verified)
July 21, 2015
Slide 26
Next Steps, cont.

Establish Regular Process for updating
Data
•
Bi-annual database updates (next collection
March 2013)

Data request (for period since last available
data, last request Spring 2011)
 Receive data
 Data verification/review
 Data upload
 Add additional metadata as needed
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Slide 27
Next Steps, cont.

Data dissemination strategy
•
Announcement of MCH data availability
• Production of analytical reports/briefs using
data from MCH
• Presentation of data at professional
meetings
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Slide 28
Application to LMIS

Exchange of international labour
migration data can be used to amplify
LMIS
•
Origin countries: Increase knowledge of
where migrants going and occupations they
currently fill; potential destinations for future
migrants
• Destination countries: increase knowledge
of potential labour migrants in countries of
origin
July 21, 2015
Slide 29