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A Review of Methods for Estimating Emigration

Written by:
POP-TWPS0101

Abstract

International migration statistics measure the movement of people across national borders and often comprise estimates of immigration (mig ration into a country) and emigration (migration out of a country). Emigration is one of the mo st difficult components of population change to estimate because the emigrant population is no lo nger resident in the c ountry and, therefore, cannot be measured directly using censuses or surveys. Researchers and national statistical agencies have used various data, including popul ation registers and surveys, and techniques, including residual methods, data attrition met hods, indirect estimation, multiplicity sampling methods, and statistical modeling to estimate emig ration. However, the literature describing how these data and techniques are used to estimate em igration is relatively spar se. In addition, foreign language translations are often unavailable, limiting the access of this information to an international audience. One of the projects of the Suitland Working Group is to bring together the published literature on estimating emigrati on from different languages into one resource document. In this report, we summarize the li terature on the methods to estimate emigration, review the strengths and limitations of each method, and provide references for original documents in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021
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