Code to reproduce visualisations in paper Fransen, S., & De Haas, H. (2022). Trends and patterns of global refugee migration. Population and Development Review, 48(1), 97-128.
This paper studies long-term trends and patterns of global refugee migration, with a particular emphasis on the post-WWII period. We use the UNHCR Population Statistics Database to explore the intensity, spread and distance of refugee migrations at a global, regional and country level between 1951 and 2016. The analyses refute the popular idea that there has been a substantial and linear increase in the intensity of global refugee migration since the 1950s. Moreover, problems with data coverage and quality particularly in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s challenge the idea that refugee migration is at an ‘all-time high’. Apparent increases in the number of global displaced are driven by the recent inclusion of populations and countries that were previously excluded from statistics. The analyses do reveal several geographical shifts in refugee migration over the past decades. Refugees tend to come from a shrinking number of origin countries, and settle in an increasing number of destination countries. This trend reflects an overall global decline in conflicts and a concentration of recurrent conflict cycles in a few states. The average distance between origin and residence countries has increased over time, although the vast majority of refugees continue to stay near origin countries. Refugee populations continue to be concentrated in countries with low to medium GDP levels, and there has not been a major increase in ‘South-North’ refugee migration.
└───src
├───data --> data source files
│ ├───dta
│ └───xls
├───do --> Stata .do files for data transformation
└───manuscript --> manuscript
└───graphs --> graphs generated
STATA Python 3.8.0 See requirements.txt