Improving international migration statistics P riorities for future work

1. Improving international migration statistics Priorities for future work Regional workshop on international migration statistics, Geneva, 4-6 december 2007 Dr. Werner Haug

2. The starting point: a headache • National immigration authorities have many data, but only for certain categories of migrants • Flow data depend on administrative registration and residence rules • Statistical definitions are often not applied • Few countries have reliable data on emigration • Citizenship of immigrants and acquisition of citizenship is often not covered • Censuses take usually place only every 10 years WHAT TO DO? UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

3. Better use of administrative data • Need for: Better use and harmonization of administrative records from different ministries (border control, interior, labour, health, education etc.) • Problems: Lack of cooperation between statistical and administrative authorities, difficulty of access to administrative data, statistical needs not adequately reflected in administrative procedures • What to do: Create interagency task force, participate in interagency committees, create high level commitment, initiate government decisions. Lead for statistics should be with statistics! … UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

4. Introduce or reform registration systems • Need for: Introduction or reform of population registration systems which should adequately reflect permanent and temporary residence, arrivals and departures of nationals and foreigners • Problems: Tradition, lack of ressources and incentives, links with rights and obligations (political, economic, family and housing etc.), limited influence of NSI’s • What to do: Improve political awareness, initiate legal changes, create incentives for registration and deregistration, learn from countries with efficient registration systems … UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

5. Efficient registration: part of a larger political and social context • Why to register? • Free: no or very low fees • Access to residence and work • Access to social and health services • Access to education • Access to political rights • Why to deregister? • Don’t want to pay taxes • Don’t want to do military service • Don’t want to receive bills and reminders • Deregistration as a condition for registration • Deregistration as a condition for protection abroad • If incentives are absent or work in the wrong direction: the results will be statistical undercount, overcount and lack of timeliness! UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

6. Invest in the 2010 Population Census • Need for: Comparability with: a) other countries on the basis of UN recommendations and b) earlier national censuses. Improve migration data through introduction of additional questions: Special migration module on emigrants absent from the household for more than one year and questions on reasons of migration. • Problems: Advocacy and consultation on national level, methodological know how, ressources • What to do: Mobilize national and international support. Learning from other migrant sending (Tunesia, Mexico, Philippines) and receiving countries (Western Europe and North America) … UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

7. Introduce migration questions in household surveys • Need for: More frequent data on immigration/emigration, data on migrants and expatriates on the labour market, their living conditions, income and health, data on subgroups of the population • Problems: Coverage of migrants in household surveys (irregular migrants, temporary absent/present migrants, institutional households) • What to do: Develop standardised modules on migrants (and remittances) particularly in LFS, LSMS, rolling censuses in sending and receiving countries. Develop adequate sampling frames ... UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

8. Improve demographic data analysis • Need for: More demographic analysis on the comparability and quality of different data on the national and international level (Censuses, vital statistics, administrative data, surveys). • Use demographic accounting and modelling as analytical tools for migration estimates. • Problems: Ressources and know how in NSI’s, access to individual data, lack of metadata • What to do: Initiation of research projects, workshops, training, foreign expertise … UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

9. Horizontal issues • Involve all relevant national stakeholders, organise interagency cooperation (who: national governments, NSI’s, migration related ministries, research institutions) • Develop a Masterplan for the improvement of population and migration statistics which is realistic and adresses the needs of migrant sending and receiving countries in the medium and long term (who: NSI’s, governments, international organisations …) • Organise international coordination for countries with a common history and shared migration systems (e.g. CIS countries, South-East European countries) (who: UNECE, IOM, CIS …) • Organise political advocacy and mobilise resources for the 2010 round of Censuses to coordinate questionnaires and support NSI’s (who: NSI’s, PARIS 21, UNFPA, EUROSTAT) • Pool the professional expert knowledge through coordinated technical assistance (UNECE/UNSD/EUROSTAT/UNFPA/ …) UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

10. Principles • Take the UN recommendations as a reference • But: Develop pragmatic and feasible solutions • Respect regional and historical particularites • Co-operate nationally and exchange internationally • Take the needs of migrant sending countries seriously • Take the constraints of migrant receiving countries seriously UNSC and UNECE-CES, Regional workshop on international migration statistics, 4-6 december 2007

11. Thank you!