Factoring migration into the 'development data revolution'.

• Author: Laczko, Frank
• Position: Projecting Migration

Migration stories appear in the news around the world nearly every day. Migration is one of the most hotly debated policy issues and has grown in importance on the global agenda of the United Nations (UN). But how much do we really know about migration and the impact of migration policies and programs? Do we have the data to make a strong case for the inclusion of migration in the post-2015 development agenda? This article takes a hard look at the migration evidence base and outlines a set of recommendations to achieve a "migration data revolution" over the next decade. The article is written from a global perspective, and discusses data on both regular and irregular migration. It also considers how data are shared and used by policymakers, and why there is so little data on the impact of migration programs.

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"Ultimately, the better the data available in the development field, the higher the quality of people's lives in poor countries." (1) This year, the international community will agree on a new global development framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Many argue that it will not be possible to measure progress toward new development goals, targets, and indicators unless data on development improves. As a result, there have been growing calls for a "development data revolution." (2) In 2013, the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 development agenda called for such a revolution, noting:

This is not just about governments. International agencies, Central Statistical Offices (CSOs), and the private sector should be involved. A true data revolution would draw on existing and new sources of data to fully integrate statistics into decisionmaking, promote open access to, and use of, data, and ensure increased support for statistical systems. (3) Subsequently, in 2014, the UN Secretary General's Independent Expert

Advisory Group on a "Data Revolution for Sustainable Development" published the report "A World That Counts: Mobilizing the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development." (4) Specifically, the report calls for more diverse, integrated, timely, and trustworthy information, and it laments that entire groups of people are not being counted and important aspects of people's lives are not measured. It recommends a "significant increase in funds to support this data revolution, following an assessment of capacity development needs."

While the report's recommendations are welcomed, there is a danger that the need for better data on migration and migrants may be overshadowed by those advocating for a "development data revolution." After all, migration was not factored into the MDG and is thus often overlooked when calls for better data on development indicators are made. "A World That Counts" makes little reference to migration, except for noting the lack of disaggregated data on refugees. The fact that migration was not included in the MDG monitoring framework has probably slowed progress in improving migration and development data over the years. The MDG monitoring process has, however, prompted an impressive increase in statistical capacity and data availability in the developing world. (5) Data availability for the majority of MDG indicators has improved significantly since 2000 across developing countries. (6)

In 2015, migration is expected to be included in the new global development framework (although exactly how still remains a question), given that there are several references to migration in the report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). For example, migration is mentioned as one of the targets within the goal of tackling inequalities: "Facilitate orderly, safe, regular, and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies." (7) The Open Working Group also acknowledges the specific vulnerability of migrants and therefore includes them in targets on strengthening adherence to existing labor standards and trafficking, and more generally calls for disaggregated data by migratory status to ensure that "nobody is left behind." (8)

The inclusion of migration in the post-2015 development agenda is therefore likely to add to the longstanding calls for better data on migration and development. (9) In 2013, for example, at the UN High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, governments agreed on the need for more reliable statistical data on international migration and development. (10)

But countries have yet to agree on any kind of action plan at the global level to address gaps in migration data. This article does not propose a detailed blueprint for the future, but instead aims to promote discussion on what might be some concrete measures that could be enacted over the next few years to improve data on migration and development globally. We begin by briefly reviewing key data gaps, challenges, and progress.

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT DATA

It is widely recognized that official statistics on international migration are very poor. Globally, the main data source for the migrant stock is the population census. While the best migration data often comes from censuses, a census is usually carried out every ten years, so the data can be less than useful for policymakers who wish to understand more current migration trends. Furthermore, in its 2009 report "Migrants Count," the Commission on International Migration Data for Development Research and Policy noted that some countries' censuses still do not include a question about a person's country of birth, and one-third of countries do not ask about previous residence in another country. (11) Even if countries do collect such data, many, especially those in the Global South, do not have the necessary resources to fully analyze migration trends. Many national statistical offices have limited resources, both human and financial, and migration may be a low priority compared to data collection on other topics. "Completion of questionnaires sent by international organizations," as a UN report on migration statistics states, "can be viewed as burdensome, a drain on resources, and a low priority." (12) As relatively few developing countries have integrated migration into their national development plans, collecting data on migration is often not a political priority.

Censuses can only include a limited number of questions on migration, and thus cannot provide the detailed information needed for a meaningful analysis of either the causes or the consequences of international migration. (13) In order to conduct such analysis, more specialized household surveys of migrant populations would be needed, but there is no global migration survey program to help countries gather such data. According to the UN, for the year 2000, only 76 percent of countries around the world have been able to report on the citizenship or country of birth of migrants; for 2010, the UN reported that only 27 percent of countries indicated this information. (14)

Data on migration flows is even more limited. The UN notes that "the number of countries and areas that could provide statistics on international migration flows to the UN Statistics Division remains extremely low." (15) For example, between 2011 and 2012, only twenty-nine countries were able to provide statistics on international inflows by categories of reason for admission and sex, and only sixteen could provide data on the number of incoming migrants by previous country of residence and sex. (16)

As migration is a complex phenomenon, the needs for migration-related data are far-reaching--from border control, labor, and employment information to issues of integration, trafficking and smuggling, health and skills assessments, family composition, remittance flows, and beyond. We need to know not only how many migrants are moving, but also how they are faring.

Broadly speaking at the global level, we can count the stock of migrants and measure the remittances they send home, but we can say relatively little about their well-being, the scale of irregular migration, or the impact of migration policies and programs. The most frequently cited global statistics in the annual report on migration and development submitted to the UN Secretary General are the number of migrants in the world and the scale of remittances. (17) With the exception of counter-trafficking policies, there is little systematic monitoring on an annual basis of national migration policies globally. Nor is there any routine report that seeks to explore how well migrants are faring in each country of the world compared to other population subsets. Many migrant groups remain invisible, as there is relatively little reliable data on undocumented or irregular migrants, who often represent significant shares of the total migrant population within many countries.

Misperceptions of migration's scale and its numerous effects often result from a lack of data and/or the poor dissemination of such data to the general public. In many countries, the general public often believes that the scale of migration is much greater than it actually is. (18) Additionally, it becomes challenging for decision-makers to develop and implement effective migration policies. Informed policymaking depends on timely, reliable, and relevant migration data. Poor-quality information feeds prejudice, stereotyping, and can distort public debate. Without reliable, accessible, and balanced information, sound management of migration becomes more difficult.

SOME PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE

Despite the fact that migration was not integrated into the MDG monitoring framework, there have been improvements in recent years in the availability, quality, and comparability of international migration data. Several examples can be mentioned. The UN Population Division, in collaboration with the UN Statistics Division, the World Bank, and the University of Sussex, has...