The Indirect Estimation of Migration

This unique book introduces an essential element in applied demographic analysis: a tool-kit for describing, smoothing, repairing and, in instances of totally missing data, inferring directional migration flows.

This book presents the culmination of our collaborative research, going back over 15 years (Rogers & Little, 1994), and for one of us, even longer (Rogers, 1967, 1973). It addresses a dif?cult, yet necessary, area of demographic research: what to do in data situations characterized by irregular, inadequate, or missing data. A common solution within the demographic community has been what is generally referred to as indirect estimation. In our work the focus has been on the indirect estimation of migration, and our use of the term indirect follows the description given in the 1983 United Nations manual, which de?ned it as techniques suited for analysis of incomplete or defective demographic data (United Nations, 1983, p. 1). We wrote this book with a goal to make it accessible to a reader familiar with introductory statistical modeling, at the level of regression and categorical data an- ysis using log linear models. It is primarily intended to serve as a reference work for demographers, sociologists, geographers, economists, and regional planners.

Converts irregular sample data into smooth and more valid migration patterns Combines various migration data together to provide a more complete and accurate picture of population movements Fills in the gaps found in historical censuses that lack a migration question as well as the migration data from data poor developing countries

Inhalt
Describing Age Structures of Migration.- Describing Spatial Structures of Migration.- Smoothing Age and Spatial Patterns.- Imposing Age and Spatial Patterns.- Inferring Age and Spatial Patterns.- Conclusion.