Global migration in focus as leading experts gather in Malmö

How migration statistics and evaluation can be improved and made more comparable will be discussed at the major international conference which is hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the UN agencies the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

We need more and better research and studies on international migration and its consequences.

Pieter Bevelander

The International Forum on Migration Statistics (IFMS) will host delegates from 50 countries; among the participants are Mats Persson, Minister for Labour, Anders Hall, State Secretary to the Minister for Migration, Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General at IOM, Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, Assistant High Commissioner at UNHCR, and Mia Rönnmar, Vice-Chancellor of Malmö University.

A special focus will be put on the gender perspective and the use of innovative data tools, with an emphasis on big data and artificial intelligence applications.

The aim is to develop and discuss migration statistics and how different actors collect data on migration, and how it can be improved. Today, this is done in different ways in different countries, which means that reliable statistics are often lacking, according to Bevelander:

“We need more and better research and studies on international migration and its consequences so that governments can make decisions on migration and integration based on well-founded empirical studies.

“I hope the conference will lead to a better dialogue in general, and to a better understanding of the migration process, the causes, and consequences of migration.”