Part 1: Migratory trends and patterns in the Americas
B. Migratory Information Systems
B.2 SOPEMI Continuous Reporting System on Migration
Diego López de Lera
9I.
Description of the system
The Continuous Reporting System on Migration, for which the acronym SOPEMI has been used since 1983, is a statistical service of the Secretariat of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which provides data on international migration flows and on the foreign population present in almost all the member countries of that organization 10.
The data are collected in each of the member countries by the System’s national correspondents (33 in 1999 11). These correspondents are responsible for producing an annual report which contains the most recent data on entries, departures, and the immigration population present in the country, as well as analysis of flow trends and the situation of resident immigrants. The reports are collected by the Secretariat of the Organization, and are used to prepare a periodical publication: "Trends in international migration. Continuous Reporting System on Migration." The main themes covered in these reports are trends in immigration flows and changes in the immigrant population resident in the country (foreigners or non-natives); on the situation of immigrant workers in the labour market and on the immigration policies of their governments. The Secretary usually also chooses a specific issue each year for the correspondents to study in greater depth in their respective countries (the most recent being education, the family, and clandestine immigration).
The annual publication contains summaries of the national reports and, of course, a statistical annex which includes three main groups of data 12:
Tables with national totals for the foreign population (or population born abroad), on: ● Annual migration flows (entries, departures and migration balance);
● Requests for asylum;
● Stocks at the end of the year; ● Nationality acquisitions.
Tables with national totals of foreign workers, on: ● Annual entry flows;
● Stocks at the end of the year.
Tables for each member country listed by nationality (or country of birth) on:
● Annual migration flows (entries, departures and migration balance), both of the foreign population and foreign workers. Includes asylum-seekers;
● Stocks at the end of the year, both of the foreign population and of foreign workers; ● Nationality acquisitions.
9 Titular Professor of the University of La Coruña, Spain [[email protected]].
10 Of the 29 member countries, information may not be available for Iceland, Greece, New Zealand, Poland and Turkey. Table 1 lists the member countries of the OECD.
11 Originally they were non-governmental experts selected in each country, although they could include persons nominated by governments. At present only 40% of the correspondents are still officially independent. 12 These data are currently available in computerized form (compact discs).
The data on immigration flows and population come from a wide variety of sources, which are different from country to country. Compatibility is hard to achieve, as the data reflect migration systems and national government policies which are the result of different situations, thus making it difficult to harmonize the data. This especially applies to the case of employment of the foreign and/ or immigrant population. The correspondents therefore have to make a special effort to obtain data that are "compatible" with those of other countries or, otherwise, to identify the features which would help to interpret them within the system as a whole.
Although SOPEMI does not have the authority to impose changes in the procedures for data records in member countries, its task to seek enhanced harmonization of the information plays an important role in the definition of the basic minimum that these sources should include, so that in practice appropriate standards for data collection and processing will tend to be adopted. The independent correspondents, who are experts in the study of international migration, thus help to provide a more general and equitable perspective (incorporating both the views of the immigrants and those of the governments) for devising the standards.
In the chapter referring to immigration policies, there is information on the current situation and the most recent actions taken by the competent official organizations, either to control international migration flows, or relating to labour market access and the living conditions of the foreign population (housing, education, health, etc.).
"Illegal" immigration is a special case, which affects the international compatibility of migration statistics. Its measurement, or rather its estimation, tends to be viewed with much scepticism, and so it is not usually not explicitly included in publications on migration flows or on the foreign population. Despite this fact, the data of some countries do include them partially, and the correspondents monitor clandestine immigration and the undocumented foreign population on a continuous basis, including them in their reports in a timely manner.
II.
Sources of information
Although in principle SOPEMI works on the basis of United Nations recommendations on the standardization of migration data collection (the first dates from 1976 and the most recent from 1989), the definition of migration and migrant population that it finally adopted includes all persons who cross international borders, without reference to their habitual place of residence, or a minimum duration of stay. This is why the statistics collected by SOPEMI include data (for some countries) on refugees and temporary workers, categories not considered as migrants by the United Nations.
A first division between member countries can be established with respect to the definition of immigrant population. The first and smaller group 13 (see table 1) define it on the basis of the criterion of place of birth (natives or non-natives). The other countries define it on the basis of the nationality criterion (nationals or foreigners). Recently some countries have been changing this situation, trying to adopt a definition which incorporates the advantages of the two previous ones (France, in the 1990s, place of birth and nationality of origin). The time of residence is not expressly considered, although the distinction between long- or short-term migrants is considered important. Another distinction can be made according to the availability of a population reporting system. Only some European countries of the OECD have some type of continuous population reporting system, as well as the Republic of Korea and Japan (although their reporting only covers foreigners). The other countries use different statistical sources, mainly official permits (for residence or work) or censuses and surveys. Although some countries (such as Spain and Italy) have a continuous information reporting system, their coverage has not yet been sufficient to satisfy the minimum requirements of SOPEMI, and hence the published data generally refer to permits.
Table 1
SOPEMI: STATISTICAL SOURCE ON IMMIGRATION AND DEFINITION USED FOR IMMIGRANT POPULATION
Countries Immigrant population Foreign workers Definition of immigrant population Flows/Stocks Flows/Stocks Non nationals Non-natives EUROPE European Union Germany PR/PR P/Others X Austria PR/PR P/P X Belgium PR/PR P/P X Denmark PR/PR P/PR X Spain -/P P/P X France P/C P/S X X Greece X Ireland -/S P/S X Italy Otros P/P X Luxembourg PR/PR P/P X Netherlands PR/PR Others/Others X Norway PR/PR -/PR X Portugal -/P -/P X United Kingdom P/S P/S X Sweden PR/PR -/P X Others Finland PR/PR X Hungary PR/PR P/P X Iceland X Poland X Czech Republic -/PR X Switzerland PR/PR P/P X Turkey X AMERICA Canada P/C P/C X United States P/C P/C X Mexico ASIA Republic of Korea -/PR
*
X Japan PR/PR*
-/P X OCEANÍA Australia P/C P/S X New Zealand Member countries of OECD (1999)Flows/Stocks PR: Population register
*
: Only foreignersP: Official permits C: Censuses S: Surveys
The continuous population reporting system is the best known means of recording population migration movements. Its administrative basis is well-known: individuals have to declare their intention of residing in a country (arrival) or leaving a country (departure) in some local government department. By adding the local records, national data are obtained for all the migration currents (entries and departures, for both nationals and foreigners), as well as the totals for resident population, whether national or foreign. This statistical source can monitor the migration movements of the entire population, foreign or otherwise, by means of the requirement for residence certification, supplied by the local authorities. This certification is needed in order to use various services such as water, light, telephone, schools, etc., as well as to be included on the electoral rolls for the different electoral processes (at the national or community level). Other features of this source include:
● In many cases they allow actual migration movements to be counted, rather than just the migrant persons, as a migrant may move more than once in the period considered.
● In general the European countries use the criterion of duration of less than one year recommended by the United Nations.
The migration statistics of countries which do have continuous population reporting are usually of better quality than of those which do not, especially with regard to migration flows.
Official residence or work permits are the source that is most used by the countries which do not have a continuous reporting system. The information in this case is more limited, as on the one hand it does not cover all the migration flows (minors, departures) and, on the other hand, it may reduce the estimate of the total number of immigrants and/or foreigners (as "current permits" are counted rather than persons 14).
In the case of work permits the variation of categories (specialized, professional, non- specialized, seasonal, temporary, border, etc.) and of how they are applied in different countries is even greater, which sometimes makes it difficult to distinguish between temporary and permanent. The censuses and surveys are usually combined to obtain the national and foreign population totals for specific dates. The potential of censuses for analysing population subgroups is well-known, as well as their main limitation, which is the large intercensal period (5 to 10 years). Surveys, which at present are usually conducted on an annual basis, have serious limitations with regard to the statistical representation of minority groups, whose number are usually small.
Both sources also have limitations with regard to reporting migrants or non-natives who are beyond the scope of the census (asylum-seekers, etc.) or who do not live in private homes (guest houses, etc.).
2.1 Measurement of migration flows
With regard to the measurement of migration flows, SOPEMI uses data from population records or from official permits. The types of flows measured in this way are clearly different. The former can be used to obtain data on entries and departures of both nationals and foreigners, with the limitations referred to above (see figure 1). The latter source, which does not usually include departures from the country, provides the number of permits issued or granted 15 during a specific period to foreigners, and their significance depends on the characteristics of the types of permits (figure 2). A distinction can thus be made between the "permanent residence" permits on which the statistics of Australia, Canada and the United States are based, and the different types of permit (of limited duration, generally less than one year) which are used in other countries, such as France and Spain. Obviously, they do not report the flows of nationals, as they do not need any type of permit to reside in the country. The statistics on migration flows based on permits do not include all the existing currents, in particular in the area of the European Union, where the nationals of the member countries do not need "permits" in order to reside on a temporary basis and/or to work within any country in the community area.
Lastly, it should be recalled that statistics on "current permits" do not necessarily reflect the real flows of "persons". A permit may be valid although the person has decided to leave the country, or does not intend to make use of it. A permit may be requested by a person who has already been resident in the country for some time. In countries which issue different kinds of permits, the issuing of a new permit may reflect a change of status of a person who is already resident in the country, etc. 14 One person may apply for more than one permit in a particular period. A permit may be current although the person is not in the country.
15 To the extent that the official residence and/or work permits imply specific rights and obligations, they are only granted to those who comply with the necessary legal requirements. For this reason there is usually a difference between the number of requests and the number of permits granted, which increases when there are periods of higher immigration, and this is one of the main factors contributing to the numbers of "illegal" immigrants, together with undocumented entries.
To summarize, only some countries (those with continuous population reporting; see table 1) have statistics on the currents of migration flows, and in these countries the currents of departures (emigration) tend to be under-reported in relation to entries (immigration). The rest of the countries do not, strictly speaking, have data on migration flows (understanding as such the movement of persons across political-administrative spatial divisions, with the aim of establishing a habitual place of residence), but on the administrative statistics for a specific group of permits, which refer only indirectly to the entry (immigration) or residence of non-nationals in their territories. Immigration currents of nationals and all emigration are excluded.
Figure 1
SOPEMI. FOREIGN MIGRATION CURRENTS FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES WITH CONTINUOUS POPULATION REGISTERS
Source: Continuous Reporting System on Migration (SOPEMI), Trends in International Migration: Annual Report
1999, Paris, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 1999.
Other countries 250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Immigration Emigration Netherlands (Emi) Netherlands (Inm) Germany (Imm) Germany (Emi) Switzerland (Imm) Switzerland (Emi) Date Germany 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
Figure 2
SOPEMI. FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS CURRENTS FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES WITH DATA BASED ON OFFICIAL PERMITS
Source: Continuous Reporting System on Migration (SOPEMI), Trends in International Migration: Annual Report
1999, Paris, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 1999.
2.2 Immigrant population
Together with the annual series of migration flows, the national reports usually contain time series of immigrant population totals, according to some socioeconomic characteristics which allow them to be compared with the native population. There exist, however, differences in the definitions of "immigrants" between member countries. The majority group of countries which provide data on the population of foreign nationals (European countries, Japan and the Republic of Korea), and the rest, which have data on the non-native population (Australia, Canada and the United States) (see annex A.2 and figures 3 and 4).
There are differences owing to the different legal criteria on the acquisition of nationality. Thus, countries whose nationality is granted by consanguinity, independently of the place of birth, usually provide data according to the criterion of legal nationality. On the other hand, countries whose nationality is obtained by territoriality (birth) provide data based on the criterion of place of birth.
Other countries 250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 United States 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0
Thousands of foreign immigrants
United Kingdom Canada United States France Australia Spain Date
Figure 3
OECD. FOREIGN POPULATION 1997, SELECTED COUNTRIES
Source: Continuous Reporting System on Migration (SOPEMI), Trends in International Migration: Annual Report 1999,
Paris, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 1999.
Figure 4
OECD. FOREIGN POPULATION 1996-97. PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL POPULATION OF EACH COUNTRY
Germany Canada Australia United Kingdom Japan Switzerland Italy Belgium Austria Netherlands Spain Sweden Denmark Czech Republic Republic of Korea Portugal Norway Luxembourg Hungary Ireland Finland
Countries open to immigration. Data on population born abroad Thousands of residents of foreign nationality
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 Country of residence Country of residence Luxembourg Australia Switzerland Canada United States Austria Germany Belgium France Sweden Denmark Netherlands United Kingdom Norway Ireland Italy Portugal Finland Spain Hungary Japan
Data on population born abroad
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The non-native population may be considered as the first generation of immigrants (whether foreigners or not). The population of foreigners (non-nationals) include both the first and second generations (or more) of immigrants. But they do not include the immigration flow of nationals. For this reason the data on "non-native" population are usually greater than those referring to the "foreign" population, and thus direct comparison may distort the perception of the trend of these populations in each country, as well as differences between countries, as in some cases the data on the non-native population may be double that of the foreign population (figure 5), owing to factors that include a decline in the foreign population caused by the cumulative effect of naturalizations.
Figure 5
SOPEMI. DATA ON NON NATIVE AND FOREIGN POPULATION
Source: Continuous Reporting System on Migration (SOPEMI), Trends in International Migration: Annual Report
1999, Paris, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 1999.
It is nevertheless clear that the "non-native population" includes exclusively immigrants, although not all immigrants (returned natives) and is not affected by naturalizations (table 2). On the other hand, the "foreign population" includes both immigrants, but not all immigrants (nationals), and non-immigrants (foreigners born in the country) and is affected by naturalizations. The combination of both criteria offers a better understanding of the situation of the immigrant population in the receiving countries (now provided to SOPEMI by a growing number of OECD countries). The debate that arose in France at the beginning of the 1990s should be understood in this context. Criticisms of the exclusive use of the criterion of nationality in the study of immigration 16 led to a move to change this, after more than a century, to the place of birth and nationality of origin.
16 M. Tribalat has shown in various studies that the use of this criterion not only affected the numbers of the immigrant population, but also the characteristics of the populations thus defined (Tribalat, 1991; Tribalat, Garson and others, 1991). A recent summary of the situation can be seen in: Simon (1999).
Netherlands Norway Thousands of persons 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
2.3 Special cases
Refugees and asylees
These persons are not formally considered as migrants during the process of granting the status requested (asylee or refugee), as if it is not granted they have to leave the country (in the case of the European Union, the entire community area) and for administrative purposes "never migrated". The duration of stay can vary from several months to more than a year. In this situation, countries have different policies regarding the inclusion of those seeking asylee or refugee status in SOPEMI data. Some European countries which have continuous population reporting systems include them, either partially or totally, in the data on the resident foreign population, especially if they are living outside the reception centres.
Independently, there are statistics on requests for asylum or refugee status from other administrative sources, although with clear differences between the member countries. In some countries, only persons who have been granted the corresponding status (asylee or refugee) are counted, in which case they appear as immigrants in the data on flows, at the date of granting of the respective status (and not the date of arrival in the country). In some countries the data include those dependent on the main applicant, in others (such as France) the dependants have to apply for other types of permits.
The data in the tables on asylees and refugees can be added to those of immigrants, except for those countries where they are already included, a situation which is sometimes difficult to clarify. Naturalized persons
Acquisitions of nationality (naturalizations) should be taken into account when analysing immigrant trends. In countries where the acquisition of nationality does not present major problems (France, Belgium), an increase in the foreign immigration current and in associated births leads within a few years to an increase in the national population. In other countries, where naturalization is more difficult (Germany, Switzerland), births associated with new foreign immigrants may result in large increases in the foreign population.
The cumulative effect of naturalizations also has a direct impact on the numbers of the foreign population. Thus, in countries with annual naturalization rates higher than 5% of its foreign population (see figures 6 and 7 and annex A3), the relative stability of the total number of foreigners indicates a substantial amount of hidden immigration due to the number of annual naturalizations.