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Overcoming the problems of inconsistent international migration data: a new method applied to flows in Europe

Overcoming the problems of inconsistent international migration data: a new method applied to flows in Europe
Overcoming the problems of inconsistent international migration data: a new method applied to flows in Europe
Due to differences in definitions and measurement methods, cross-country 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. This paper presents a method to achieve harmonised estimates of migration flows by comparing the differences in data reported by both sending and receiving countries. For each country we estimate one adjustment factor for immigration and one for emigration in such a way that the adjusted immigration and emigration numbers are closer to each other than the numbers reported by sending and receiving countries. A number of specific origin-destination flows have to be considered separately since the adjusted numbers are not consistent with each other. For these cases we introduce additional constraints. Our methodology is illustrated for migration between 19 European countries from 2002 to 2007. The methods compensates for both cross-country differences in definitions and the effects of measurement errors due to e.g. under reporting and sampling fluctuations. The results 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.
0168-6577
459-481
de Beer, Joop
5237bbc3-6b3a-4c80-913c-880c102321d6
Raymer, James
ed2973c1-b78d-4166-baf3-4e18f1b24070
van der Erf, Rob
b7d9f41a-0127-4d1f-b391-866e2748577e
van Wissen, Leo
2d6ba664-8add-44d1-ad46-e3d5798d8618
de Beer, Joop
5237bbc3-6b3a-4c80-913c-880c102321d6
Raymer, James
ed2973c1-b78d-4166-baf3-4e18f1b24070
van der Erf, Rob
b7d9f41a-0127-4d1f-b391-866e2748577e
van Wissen, Leo
2d6ba664-8add-44d1-ad46-e3d5798d8618

de Beer, Joop, Raymer, James, van der Erf, Rob and van Wissen, Leo (2010) Overcoming the problems of inconsistent international migration data: a new method applied to flows in Europe. European Journal of Population, 26 (4), 459-481.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Due to differences in definitions and measurement methods, cross-country 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. This paper presents a method to achieve harmonised estimates of migration flows by comparing the differences in data reported by both sending and receiving countries. For each country we estimate one adjustment factor for immigration and one for emigration in such a way that the adjusted immigration and emigration numbers are closer to each other than the numbers reported by sending and receiving countries. A number of specific origin-destination flows have to be considered separately since the adjusted numbers are not consistent with each other. For these cases we introduce additional constraints. Our methodology is illustrated for migration between 19 European countries from 2002 to 2007. The methods compensates for both cross-country differences in definitions and the effects of measurement errors due to e.g. under reporting and sampling fluctuations. The results 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.

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More information

Published date: 2010

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 161317
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/161317
ISSN: 0168-6577
PURE UUID: 3f020eeb-a598-4e14-adf4-d82b664fafbf

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Date deposited: 28 Jul 2010 13:41
Last modified: 22 Jul 2022 17:29

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Contributors

Author: Joop de Beer
Author: James Raymer
Author: Rob van der Erf
Author: Leo van Wissen

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