Expert Group Meeting on International Migration Statistics

Abstract

In 1976, the United Nations Statistical Commission, the UN body coordi? nating the work of National Statistical Offices, adopted a set of recommenda? tions on international migration statistics, which were subsequendy published in 1980.2 However, due to the rapidly changing nature and scope of interna? tional migration, a low level of implementation of the 1976 Recommenda? tions and increased demands from policymakers for reliable statistics, it was decided to revise them. Currendy, the UN Statistical Division is engaged in the review process, together with the UN regional commissions, other inter? governmental organizations and the Statistical Office of the European Com? munities (Eurostat). The new recommendations are to be submitted to the Statistical Commission to be held in February 1997 and, following their adoption, are expected to be published by mid-1997. The Expert Group Meeting held in New York, July 10-14, 1995, was organized joindy by the United Nations Statistical Division and Eurostat, and was attended by participants from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Also present were repre? sentatives of the International Labour Office (ILO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Economic Commissions for Europe (UN/ECE), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Population Divi? sion, the World Bank, the Intergovernmental Consultations on Asylum, Refugee and Migration Policies in Europe, North America and Australia, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Prior to this Expert Group Meeting, Eurostat, together with the UN, carried out a number of detailed surveys among countries in Europe and North America on concepts and definitions of migrant flows and stocks, on obstacles to implementation of the 1976 Recommendations, as well as on the way they should be revised. In addition, the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic