The Portal aims to serve as a unique access point to timely, comprehensive migration statistics and reliable information about migration data globally. The site is designed to help policy makers, national statistics officers, journalists and the general public interested in the field of migration to navigate the increasingly complex landscape of international migration data, currently scattered across different organisations and agencies. 

Especially in critical times, such as those faced today, it is essential to ensure that responses to migration are based on sound facts and accurate analysis. By making the evidence about migration issues accessible and easy to understand, the Portal aims to contribute to a more informed public debate.

The Portal was launched in December 2017 and is managed and developed by IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, with the guidance of its Advisory Board, and was supported in its conception by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The Portal is supported financially by the Government of Germany and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Explore the Migration Data Portal

The five main sections of the Portal are designed to help you quickly and easily find the data and information you need.

  • Data – Our interactive world map visualizes international, publicly-available and internationally comparable migration data.
  • Themes – Thematic overviews explain how various aspects of migration are measured, what are the data sources, their strengths and weaknesses and provide context and analysis of key migration data.
  • Tools – Migration data tools are regularly added to help you find the right tools, guidelines and manuals on how to collect, interpret and disseminate migration data.
  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) – Migration Data, the SDGs and the new Global Compact on Migration (GCM) – Reviews the migration-related targets in the SDGs, how they are defined and measured, and provides information on the new GCM and the migration data needs to support its implementation.
  • Overviews - Find key migration statistics by country and region and profiles of countries' migration governance structures according to the Migration Governance Indicators (MGI).  
  • Blog – Our blog and the Talking Migration Data video series provide a place for the migration data community to share their opinion on new developments and policy, new data or methods.

The Portal is the first iteration of an ongoing progress to develop a “one-stop-shop” for international data. As such, we welcome your comments to inform our process of continual improvement. Future iterations are planned to regional and national migration data.

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Background

The Portal was officially announced on 12 July 2016 at the 2nd Berlin Roundtable on Refugees and Migration in Berlin, where the former German Foreign Minister met with heads of international organizations working in the area of migration. The Roundtable was attended by IOM’s Director General William Lacy Swing, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for International Migration Peter Sutherland, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Elhadj As Sy, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, and World Bank Group Chief Administrative Officer Shaolin Yang. Read more