Comparing Internal Migration Around the Globe

Compared with fertility and mortality, comparatively little attention has been given to the way in which internal migration varies between countries around the world. This paper presents results from the IMAGE project, a collaborative international research program which aims to provide a robust framework for systematic comparisons of mobility and advance understanding of cross-national differentials. The paper utilises data from the IMAGE database, a global repository of internal migration data collections, to estimate aggregate migration intensities (all ‘permanent’ changes of address) over one and five year periods for a large sample of UN Member States. We utilise a range of statistical methods to harmonise the data as far as possible for differences in the temporal and spatial frameworks on which the data are collected, and produce a league table ranking countries on overall levels of internal migration. Results reveal marked differences in migration propensities between and within world regions, with relatively low mobility across much of Asia and higher movement intensities in More Developed Countries.