WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- The Migration Policy Institute has launched a new service called the Migration Information Source, known as the Source, an on-line resource for data and analysis on migration and refugee issues.
The Source is the first service of its kind, designed to address the new policy environment surrounding immigration issues. As debates about international migration grow increasingly polarized, the role of accurate data has grown even more critical. This Web site will give policymakers, journalists and others the data and analysis they need to understand challenges that arise from national and international migration, and to craft policy solutions to them.
In the past, data on migration and refugees were difficult to obtain and to interpret, with footnotes and terminology that only a trained statistician could easily comprehend. The Source solves these problems by gathering data in one easy-to-use on-line database, and presenting the data with clear graphs and charts and concise explanations. Reporting from around the world by expert analysts places the data in a contemporary policy context.
In the inaugural issue of the Source is the Global Data Center, which allows users to answer essential questions about international migration stocks and flows, and graph these trends over time.
The Source also offers feature articles on immigration topics. In the current issue are:
-- "Competing Futures: The Children of America's Newest Immigrants," by Rubén Rumbaut;
-- "New Estimates of the Undocumented Population in the United States," by Jeffrey Passel;
-- "Women and Immigration," by Elizabeth Grieco;
-- "Japan's Resilient Demand for Foreign Workers," by Chikako Kashiwazaki;
-- "Internally Displaced in Perspective," by Monette Zard.
The first issue of the Source also contains country profiles on the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom. More countries will appear in future issues.
Other regular features on the site include the Capitol Hill policy beat, a news room for journalists and a monthly newsflash that delivers the latest migration information and data to subscribers' in-boxes each month.
The Source is overseen by an advisory board made up of individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of international migration. A team of foreign correspondents, and institutional partnerships with organizations and governments provide the data and articles available on the site.
The Migration Information Source is funded by a major grant from the J.M. Kaplan Fund, and by general support to MPI from the Ford Foundation.
The Source is located at migrationinformation.org.
