Estimates of Global Bilateral Migration Flows by Gender between 1960 and 2015¹

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may / 2015Guy J. Abel Estimates of Global Bilateral Migration Flows by Gender Between 1960 and 2010 AbstractMeasures of international migration flows are often limited in both availability and comparability. This paper aims to address these issues at a global level using an indirect method to estimate country to country migration flows from more readily available bilateral stock data. Estimates are obtained over five and ten-year periods between 1960 and 2010 by gender, providing a comprehensive picture of past migration patterns. The estimated total amount of global international migrant flows is shown to generally increase over the 50 year time frame. The intensity of migration flows over five and ten-year periods fluctuate at around 0.6 and 1.25 percent of the global population respectively, with a noticeable spike during the 1990-95 period. Gender imbalances in the estimated flows between selected regions were found to exist, such as recent movements into oil rich Gulf States from South Asia. The sensitivity of flow estimates to alternative input stock and demographic data as well as changes in political geography are explored.

Who’s About to Leave? A Global Survey of Aspirations and Intentions to Migrate

“…This article has provided a systematic analysis of worldwide migration aspirations and intentions, expressed as wishes and preparations to migrate. The fact that in the recent past approximately 20 per cent of the worldwide population has expressed the wish to move abroad, while less than one per cent have actually migrated (Abel, 2018), indicates that the "desire to migrate" greatly over-estimates the pool of "potential migrants" (Gallup, 2017b). Despite this, the migration desire has been extensively used both in academic and policy debates as a proxy for potential migration (Docquier et al, 2014).…”

International migration under the microscope

“…We do not know either how many people migrate in a given year. Using data on changes in foreign-born population and controlling for births and deaths, Abel and Sander (2014) and Abel (2016) estimate that, since 1960, the proportion of people who migrate over a 5-year period fluctuated around 0.65 percent of the population, except for a spike during the 1990–95 period. The sharp rise was related to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Iron Curtain and flows from countries that were experiencing armed conflicts.…”

ParHistVis: Visualization of Parallel Multilingual Historical Data

“…The links among them are represented with edges with a width proportional to the importance of the flow. The diagrams have already gained attention in the digital humanities, e.g., in the visualization of migration flows and evolution (Abel, 2018), but also in literature (e.g., Campbell et al (2018)). Here, the user selects the dimensions for which she wants to observe potential interactions.…”