The Impact of COVID-19 on Migration Statistics in the IGAD Region

The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Africa has been increasing at a fast pace since mid-March 2020. IGAD countries have not been spared by this pandemic.  African countries are implementing different strategies to curb the spread of the disease. These strategies are expected to have a serious effect on statistical operations, including on the production of migration statistics.

To understand this phenomenon, the African Union Commission instituted an online survey with all its Member States to assess the possible impact of the pandemic on the production of migration statistics and to collect proposals for solutions in order to contain the negative impact of this pandemic on the production of migration statistics in Africa. Given that migration is a priority in the IGAD region, it will also be important to cascade the analysis of this data to the IGAD level in order to design possible solutions within the context of the REC.

Key Findings:

• Main migration topics that are covered by country migration statistics
• Periodicity of producing migration statistics by NSOs in the seven countries
• Main sources of data for producing migration statistics in the Member States
• Data sources that can be affected by the coronavirus pandemic
• Countries having any major ongoing migration surveys/censuses that will be affected by the coronavirus crisis
• Possibility of using administrative data as an alternative for the affected surveys/censuses by the pandemic
• Use of estimation as a temporary solution to produce migration data