Quantifying and Visualizing Global International Migration Flows

An interesting study on global migration flows and patterns by the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital. Highlights:

Contrary to common belief (4–6), our data (Fig. 3) do not indicate a continuous increase in migration flows over the past two decades, neither in absolute or relative terms. According to our estimates, the volume of global migration flows declined from 41.4 million (0.75% of world population) during 1990 to 1995, to 34.2 million (0.57% of world population) during 1995 to 2000. A substantial part of the fall might be accounted for by ceasing of cross-border movements triggered by the violent conflicts in Rwanda and the ending of the Soviet-installed Najibullah regime in Afghanistan. The number of global movements increased by 5.7 million between 1995–2000 and 2000–2005, and by 1.6 million between 2000–2005 and 2005–2010, whereas the percentage of the world population moving over 5-year periods has been relatively stable since 1995.

The size of migration flows within and between 15 world regions in 2005 to 2010 (estimates are in database S1) is shown in Fig. 4. Several migration patterns shown in Fig. 4 are broadly in line with previous assessments based on global stock data (11) and flow data for selected countries published by the U.N. (3, 4, 18, 19). Earlier observations include the attractiveness of North America as a migrant destination, the substantial movements from South Asia to the Gulf states in Western Asia, the diverse movements within and between the European regions, and the general tendency for more developed regions to record net migration gains, whereas the less developed countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America sent more migrants than they received from 2005 to 2010.

Check out the nifty interactive graphic here as a good example of how to visualize data.

Quantifying Global International Migration Flows.