THESIM Towards Harmonised European Statistics on International Migration

This book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive picture available of statistical data sources on international migration and asylum in the European Union (EU). The intention is to provide a handbook which will support the work of data suppliers in the EU Member States and that of Eurostat to produce reliable, harmonised and comparable data on migration and asylum in the EU. It also aims to complement the statistical work of the United Nations’ Population and Statistical Divisions (UNPD and UNSD) and that of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The book is intended to be a resource for data suppliers and policy makers in activities to implement the EU Regulation on Community statistics on migration and international protection as well as for all users of these statistics, whether policy makers, statisticians, journalists, students, researchers, lawyers, NGOs or interested members of the public.
This book results from the THESIM Project, a 6th Framework Research Project financed by DG Research (EU). It represents the latest effort of the European Commission to improve the quality, coverage and comparability of international migration in Europe and to create the basis of a system for the production of Community statistics on migration and asylum. It is an example of how the academic community, national officials and EU policy makers can develop strong collaborative working links and take action to improve the current situation and to support policy decisions.

- Michel Poulain, FNRS (National Fund for Scientific Research), is Professor at the Faculté des sciences économiques, politiques et sociales of the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and founder member of the Groupe d’étude de Démographie Appliquée (GéDAP). He works on data collection, internal and international migrations and initiated the work of harmonising EU migration statistics in Eurostat in 1989, since when he has been continuously involved in the field.
- Nicolas Perrin, GéDAP, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) works on international migration, foreign populations and related statistical data sources.
- Ann Singleton, Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice, University of Bristol (United Kingdom), has worked closely with Eurostat for more than a decade. She was responsible in the EU Commission DG JLS for policy on asylum and migration statistics and for the relevant Commission Action Plan, the first Annual Report on Asylum and Migration and the EU Regulation on Community statistics on migration and international protection.