Quantifying International Migration : A Database of Bilateral Migrant Stocks
This paper introduces four versions of an international bilateral migration stock database for 226 by 226 countries and territories. The first three versions each consist of two matrices, the first containing migrants defined by country of birth, t...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/03/7437493/quantifying-international-migration-database-bilateral-migrant-stocks http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7244 |
| Summary: | This paper introduces four versions of
an international bilateral migration stock database for 226
by 226 countries and territories. The first three versions
each consist of two matrices, the first containing migrants
defined by country of birth, that is, the foreign-born
population; the second, by nationality, that is, the foreign
population. Wherever possible, the information is collected
from the 2000 round of censuses, though older data are
included where this information was unavailable. The first
version of the matrices contains as much data as could be
collated at the time of writing but also contains gaps. The
later versions progressively use a variety of techniques to
estimate the missing data. The final matrix, comprising only
the foreign-born, attempts to reconcile all of the available
information to provide the researcher with a single and
complete matrix of international bilateral migrant stocks.
The final section of the paper describes some of the
patterns evident in the database. For example, immigration
to the United States is dominated by Latin America, whereas
Western European immigration draws heavily on Eastern
Europe, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean region. Over
one-third of world migration is from developing to
industrial countries and about a quarter between developing
countries. Intra-developed country and intra-FSU (former
Soviet Union) flows each account for about 15 percent of the
total. Over half of migration is between countries with
linguistic ties. Africa accounts for 8 percent of Western
Europe's immigration and much less of that to other
rich regions. |
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