Fiji/Berlin - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), IOM Australia, and IOM Fiji launched a regional page on 15 January on “Migration Data in Oceania” to enhance Member States’ data capacity, including at the regional level.

The regional page, available on the Global Migration Data Portal, includes the latest statistics on COVID-19's impact on the region’s remittances, international tourism, international students and border closures.

The page also includes key migration trends on “brain drain” and “gain”, refugees and environmental migration, as well as an overview of migration data sources, data challenges and policy implications.

Oceania is a region of migrants and migration plays a large role in its socioeconomic policies. According to UN DESA figures for 2019, migrants comprise 21 per cent of the population, outstripping the global average. Yet, migration data in the region is often spread out across different agencies, organizations and countries, hindering good management of migration data knowledge.

The regional page aims to improve the region’s knowledge management of migration data and make key migration data and information more accessible to policymakers, practitioners and the public.

The launch of the page follows IOM’s call to make migration data an institutional strategic priority and effort to formally recognize the value of migration data in its latest draft of the Migration Data Strategy.

It also follows the 3-year anniversary of the Global Migration Data Portal, a unique online site for timely, reliable and comprehensive statistics on international migration which attracts an average of more than 1 million visitors annually from over 200 countries and territories. Besides English, the Portal is available in French, Spanish and German.

The Global Migration Data Portal has been made possible through funding by IOM Member States, including the Government of Germany through the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, represented by the Federal office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), and the Government of Switzerland, as well as unearmarked funding granted to IOM and internally allocated through the Migration Allocation Resource Committee (MIRAC).

For more information, please contact Esther Haarmann at ehaarmann@iom.int or Carla Rojas Paz at crojaspaz@iom.int.

The presentation from the launch event is available for download here.