Integrated Modelling of European Migration (IMEM) Database

Introduction

The output of the project IMEM are the posterior distribution of the harmonised migration flows among 31 EU and EFTA countries and the rest of the world. The online IMEM database is capable of producing selected characteristics (such as medians and other quantiles) - of these posterior distributions.

Posterior distributions have been created by combining the available data on migration, covariate information and expert knowledge on migration data collection in Europe, within the statistical model. A Bayesian approach is applied to estimate the harmonised flows and other parameters of this model.

Details of the methodology applied to obtain the harmonised flows are described in working papers in the references section.

Method

Standard Setting:

• A country of interest or a group of countries (Select Multiple Countries) is selected.
• Next, a Query Type: Immigration, Emigration or Net migration to the selected country or group of countries is chosen.
• Grouping Type denotes by which characteristics the estimated flows should be grouped. In other words, disaggregation by a given characteristics is performed.
• Available characteristics include: (i) Age Group, (ii) Country, (iii) Gender, (iv) Age Group and Country, (v) Age Group and Gender, (vi) Country and Gender, (vii) Age Group and Country and Gender.
• The last standard option is to select whether the estimated flows are to be plotted by Age Group or by Year.

Advanced Setting:

• The partner country or a group of countries (Other Country) can be selected.
• If particular Age groups are of interests, they can be checked / unchecked in Age Groups option.
• Next, males or females or both sexes are selected.
• Flow estimates only for selected years from the range 2002-2008 can be produced by checking the appropriate boxes in Years option.
• Finally, the measures of uncertainty are selected. They include 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles of the distributions of the flows.
• The last option concerns the comparison plot (Include Comparison Plot). Here, the options are as in the standard setting. The query concerns the flow between the same countries as selection above, but different Query type can be selected (emigration, immigration or net migration), or different characteristics can be shown (an option from the Grouping Type).
• Age Groups or Years can be selected for the X axis.
• Finally, Y axes (vertical) of the original and comparison plot can be synchronised.

• Country(s): the country(s) to use as the “origin” (emigration) or “destination” (immigration). If multiple countries are selected, the selection is treated as a “bubble” or “virtual country”, with movement between those states being ignored.
• Query Type: extract immigration only, emigration only, or net migration for the above country.
• Grouping Type: what fields to group the flow results by (a series/graph line will be created for each value within the option selected). E.g. “Gender” will generate a “Male” line and a “Female” line.
• X-Axis: the values to plot on the x (horizontal) axis.
• Other Country: the country(s) to use as the “destination” (emigration), or “origin” (immigration). If multiple countries are selected, the selection is treated as a “bubble” or “virtual country”, with movement between those states being ignored.
• Age Groups: the age groups to retrieve flow data for.
• Genders: the genders to retrieve flow data for.
• Years: the years to retrieve flow data for.
• Measurements of Uncertainty: the percentile lines to plot for each “series”.
• Include Comparison Plot: include a secondary plot, using the same options for Country, Other Country, Years, Genders, and Age Groups (i.e. the same query, with the option of varying Query Type, Grouping Type, and X-Axis only).

1. We are interested in net migration to Poland for years 2002-2008, disaggregated by Gender.
   1. From the Country menu, select Poland,
   2. For the Query Type select Net Migration
   3. For the Grouping Type menu select Gender
   4. Make sure that Year is selected for the X Axis option
   5. Press Generate Chart. You should have see the following graph:
      
2. We are interested in emigration from Austria to Germany in 2008, disaggregated by age and sex.
   1. From the Country menu, select Austria
   2. For the Query Type select Emigration
   3. For the Grouping Type menu select Gender
   4. X Axis selection: Age Group
   5. Click Show Advanced Options...
   6. Unselect all selected countries (you can use the macro on the right hand side) and select Germany
   7. For the Years option select only year 2008
   8. Press Generate Chart. You should have obtained the following graph:
      
   Alternatively:
   1. Perform steps (a) and (b) above.
   2. Select Age Group and Gender for the Grouping Type.
   3. For the X Axis, select Year.
   Note that the above settings will not produce the graph due to too many lines (data series) to be drawn in the plot (unless the percentile options are deselected). However, the table with the results will be downloadable.
3. We would like to compare the previous flow from Austria to Germany by age and sex in year 2008 with the flow from Germany to Austria by age and sex in the same year.
   1. Select options as in 2. a-g.(without pressing the Generate Chart button)
   2. Click Yes in the Include Comparison Plot option
   3. Select Query Type: Immigration
   4. Select Grouping Type: Gender
   5. X Axis selection is Age Group
   6. You can choose to synchronise the Y Axis (both plots will be plotted on the same scale)
   7. Press Generate Chart. You should have obtained the following graphs: