Migration Statistics

Abstract

In this chapter we provide a critical appraisal of data collection and statistical data production on migrants and migration, indicators used to identify migrants, and the different uses of migration statistics for political and scientific purposes. We will start off by a brief review of the politics of statistical data and then provide a short review of the history of data collection on migration and international efforts to harmonise migration statistics on the international level. We will then present different ways to measure migration, core concepts, and definitions used to measure migration. In the subsequent section, we will describe different data collection methods and sources used to produce statistics on migration, including possible ‘new’ data sources for measuring migration, often referred to as ‘big data’. In the last section, we will briefly demonstrate different ways of analysing aggregate migration data.