Page 29 - IJPS-11-6

International Journal of
Population Studies Migration data management insights

Venezuelan migrants are in larger numbers, do not variables that captured the interest of Romanian migrants
experience employment or labor market impacts. The to the United Kingdom. It was found that both employment
employment quality and earnings of Ecuadorian workers and education indices were able to match the trends in
with low education in these regions were reduced. official migration statistics, demonstrating the potential of
It is possible to gain a good understanding of migration the data for further analysis. In contrast, Fantazzini et al.
flows and inform policy decisions by leveraging mobile (2021) found that incorporating Google data into a larger
phone data. However, addressing the challenges and model reduced forecasting error.
ethical considerations surrounding its use is crucial. By A set of push-pull indicators gathered from various
working together with telecommunication companies and data sources and Eurostat statistics on 1 -time asylum
st
other data providers, researchers and policymakers can applications was used by Qi & Bircan (2023) to train
harness the power of this valuable data source to improve three classes of gravity models that have been widely used
our understanding of migration patterns and drive more in migration literature. They also investigated whether
effective policy-making. Google Trends inclusion could affect models’ predictions
of refugees’ destinations. According to their results,
4.5. Google Trends Google Trends was not able to improve the performance of
In addition to these methods and data sources, other models that involved fixed effects or auto-regression, but
methods and data sources have been used to estimate only those that were relatively simple. On a more empirical
population dynamics, human mobility, and international level, however, Google Trends’ predictive power is sensitive
migration over time (Connor, 2017; Wladyka, 2017). For to factors such as the geographic context, the search terms
instance, a Google Trends analysis with survey data can selected for analysis, and the characteristics and behavior
be used to predict migration stock and intention (study, of its users, among others.
travel, work, or business), which is a method for estimating An approach based on Google Trends provides a
the potential migration of a population.
promising tool for accurately predicting migration flows
An analysis conducted by Vicéns-Feliberty and Ricketts in near-real time. This tool is a valuable resource for
in 2016 examined Puerto Rican search queries on migration policymakers because of its ability to provide timely
to the United States and to five states popular among information, its comprehensive view of migration factors,
Puerto Rican migrants (Vicéns-Feliberty & Ricketts, 2016). and its utility in emergencies. Utilizing Google Trends,
Using Google search data, they concluded that different governments and organizations can better understand the
states were popular due to a variety of reasons (job-related complex dynamics of migration, enabling them to respond
concerns, family considerations, and political affiliation). to emergencies in a timely and informed manner.
Later, Connor (2017) examined internet searches in Arabic
for the word “Greece” within Turkey, a major migration 4.6. Emails (Yahoo)
corridor into Europe, in order to track the movements of Data from electronic mail may enhance existing migration
refugees. data, resolve inconsistencies resulting from varying
In a study that uses refugee camps from around the definitions of migration, and provide new and rich
world as a case study, Mahabir et al. (2018) examine information on the mobility patterns and social networks
the relationship between news coverage (via Google of migrants.
news), search trends (via Google Trends), and user edit The locations of users who repeatedly log in to Yahoo!
contribution patterns in OpenStreetMap, one of the most Services have been used to estimate trends in international
prominent crowdsourcing platforms for geospatial data. flows (State et al., 2013).
They report that digital activism bursts tend to coincide Zagheni et al. (2017) used a large sample of Yahoo-
with periods of sustained buildup of public awareness derived data to estimate migration rates based on age and
deficits or surpluses, as measured by Google News and
Google Trends. Moreover, the findings reinforce existing gender over 2009 – 2011. In their findings, they suggest
research that examines factors that motivate individuals that e-mail data may complement existing migration data,
to participate in online collaborative communities. Using resolve inconsistencies arising from different definitions of
Google search information, Böhme et al. (2020) successfully migration, and provide new and rich information about
predicted bilateral migration flows by analyzing search hits migration patterns and social networks.
that reflected migration intention. In a similar approach, One of the most significant migrations in Yahoo’s
Avramescu & Wisniowski (2021) used Google Trends history was the move to the Microsoft cloud in 2016. This
Indexes (in English and Romanian) to construct composite partnership allowed Yahoo to leverage Microsoft’s Azure

Volume 11 Issue 6 (2025) 23 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.6846