Report on the impact of COVID-19 on the production of Migration Statistics In Africa

The implementation of standardized approaches to collect, process and utilize statistics in Africa including migration-relevant data across the African continent is one of the priorities of the African Union Commission (AUC). Statistics are an essential basis for planning, monitoring and evaluation of projects / programs on the continent.

The COVID 19 pandemic, may slowdown the production of migration statistics in Africa. The African Union has undertaken a study to assess the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the production of migration statistics in Africa.

Key findings include:

• Main migration statistics topics covered by African countries
• Periodicity of producing Migration Statistics
• Main data sources for producing migration statistics
• Data sources affected by the coronavirus pandemic
• Countries with ongoing migration surveys / censuses
• Using administrative data as an alternative for the affected surveys/censuses
• Using estimation of data as a temporary solution to produce migration data