Data collection for migration projections
2020 December 17
One of the key goals of the FUME project is to produce population projections at a high level of detail (by age, sex, country of birth and education) and at different spatial levels, from national to local. Nordregio researchers have created data sets which will contribute to the population projections that will be later conducted by other project partners.
Migration data in Europe
To project the future migration trends in the upcoming decades, researchers compiled an extensive statistical data overview on stocks of immigrants and migration flows to, from and within the European Union (EU), as well as on fertility and mortality trends in Europe. Besides, they have included socio-economic factors:
“First, we looked at what kind of data related to migrants and migration flows is available at OECD, European statistical offices, other international organisations and previously conducted projects,” says Nora Sánchez Gassen, Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio. “Then, we collected data on mortality and fertility rates of migrants and the native population, and now we are in the process of collecting economic data related to income, unemployment and education levels.”
The detailed level of data require harmonisation
Nora points out that in order to make data comparison on a very detailed level, some creative solutions are needed:
“One of the biggest challenges is to find specific input data that is not commonly available in all 27 European countries and the United Kingdom. Therefore, we had to find other solutions, e.g. to combine different data sources, harmonise data, or make additional assumptions in order to get as close as possible to the ideal,” says the researcher.
Next steps
The data collection and harmonisation work will continue in 2021, as there might be a need to support project partners with new data. “The emerging question is how to present the data that will be used for the projections and how to make it accessible for our target groups?” says Nora Sánchez Gassen.
The data collection work package is led by Nordregio researchers Timothy Heleniak, Nora Sánchez Gassen and Johanna Jokinen.
Written by Vaida Ražaitytė
