Overcoming the Problems of Inconsistent International Migration data: A New Method Applied to Flows in Europe

Abstract

Due to differences in definitions and measurement methods, crosscountry comparisons of international migration patterns are difficult and confusing. Emigration numbers reported by sending countries tend to differ from the corresponding immigration numbers reported by receiving countries. In this paper, a methodology is presented to achieve harmonised estimates of migration flows benchmarked to a specific definition of duration. This methodology accounts for both differences in definitions and the effects of measurement error due to, for example, under reporting and sampling fluctuations. More specifically, the differences between the two sets of reported data are overcome by estimating a set of adjustment factors for each country's immigration and emigration data. The adjusted data take into account any special cases where the origin-destination patterns do not match the overall patterns. The new method for harmonising migration flows that we present is based on earlier efforts by Poulain ( represent a reliable and consistent set of international migration flows that can be used for understanding recent changes in migration patterns, as inputs into population projections and for developing evidence-based migration policies.

Measuring flows of international migration

“…To help achieve the goal of consistent and complete data, Article 9 of the Regulation states that: "As part of the statistics process, scientifically based and well documented statistical estimation methods may be used." While this has not resulted in major differences in the collection of migration data in Europe, it has led to some methodological improvements to estimate and harmonize flows, and has certainly promoted research into assessing the data's quality [8], [9], [10]. Elsewhere in the world, there has been little progress on these issues, but the lessons learned from Europe may serve as a guide for future data collection and statistical estimation practices in other regions.…”

“…Statistical models provide the second method; they help to harmonize the variations between different countries' reported figures on migration and to estimate missing data [10]. Since 2007, there have been two international and interdisciplinary research projects focused on modeling migration flows in Europe [9]: Migration Modelling for Statistical Analyses (MIMOSA) conducted from January 2007 to December 2009 [2], [10] and Integrated Modelling of European Migration (IMEM) conducted from November 2009 to April 2012 [1], [11], [12].…”

Una metodología para la estimación de la emigración internacional a partir del registro administrativo de control de fronteras de Migración Colombia

“…El primero, denominado Modelo de migración para análisis estadísticos (Migration Modelling for Statistical Analyses (MIMOSA)), fue financiado por Eurostat, con el objetivo de construir los saldos y flujos internacionales de migración en Europa. La metodología se describe en diferentes trabajos (De Beer y otros, 2010;Raymer y otros;Abel, 2010). El segundo, cuyos resultados finales detallados se presentaron hace poco tiempo, se ha denominado Modelo integrado de las migraciones europeas (Integrated Modelling of European Migration (IMEM)) 6 .…”

“…Para efectuar la operación de validación de las estimaciones, se compararon los resultados obtenidos con la inmigración registrada en los países de destino según diferentes categorías (país de procedencia, nacionalidad colombiana y nacimiento en Colombia). Si los registros de migración no tuvieran problemas de cobertura y de definición, las cifras de emigración producidas sobre la base de Migración Colombia y las cifras de inmigración recogidas en los países receptores serían similares, pero esto no es así, puesto que las definiciones difieren entre los países e incluso la fiabilidad de un registro no garantiza la total comparabilidad (Bilsborrow y otros 1997;Nowok, Kupiszewska y Poulain, 2006;De Beer y otros, 2010). Antes de acometer el estudio comparativo, es preciso recordar algunos de los problemas que dificultan la comparación de los datos de flujos migratorios entre países para comprender las diferencias de magnitud que surgirán durante este ejercicio.…”

Estimates of Global Bilateral Migration Flows by Gender between 1960 and 20151

“…When comparing available ow data, major problems exist stemming from the use of dierent denitions and measures employed by national statistic institutes and the availability of data over dierent time horizons (Kelly, 1987;Kupiszewska and Nowok, 2008;Nowok, Kupiszewska, and Poulain, 2006). In the European context, where ow data are more plentiful, methodologies to harmonise existing data have been developed (Abel, 2010;Beer et al, 2010;Raymer, 2007;Raymer et al, 2013;Wi±niowski et al, 2013). Each are severely limited in their application to a global setting where missing data becomes a major issue.…”