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The DEMIG C2C (country-to-country) database contains bilateral migration flow data for 34 reporting countries and from up to 236 countries over the 1946–2011 period. It includes data for inflows, outflows and net flows, respectively for citizens, foreigners and/or citizens and foreigners combined, depending on the reporting countries. The DEMIG C2C database was compiled through extensive data collection and digitalisation of historical national statistics as well as current electronic sources. It provides a unique opportunity to construct migration flows from many origin countries to the 34 reporting countries, as well as return flows.

The DEMIG C2C (country-to-country) database was compiled between 2010 and 2013 as part of the DEMIG project (Determinants of International Migration: A Theoretical and Empirical Assessment of Policy, Origin and Destination Effects). It tracks data for 34 reporting countries and up to 236 countries by citizenship, birth or origin/destination for the period between 1946 and 2011.

DEMIG C2C contains data that have been reported by the respective national statistical offices since the post-Second World War period, either in printed or electronic format. As a result, the data have undergone a significant process of digitalisation, format standardisation and verification. However, data have largely been retained as reported by national statistical offices, with the exception of a minimum amount of harmonisation of names of countries, residuals and aggregates to simplify and reduce the list of countries.

The DEMIG C2C database is provided in an Excel file which includes three separate worksheets: Inflows, Outflows and Net Flows. Each worksheet contains data for all reporting countries, years, criteria, coverage, collection method and gender. Please refer to the DEMIG C2C General country notes and codebook for more detailed information on the data, definitions, codes and some important tips on how to use specific codes (i.e. OTH, OTHA, AGG and TOT). Users must read carefully these notes as they provide important information on how to ‘filter’ the data in order not to overcount migration flows.

This table provides an overview of the countries reported in DEMIG C2C, the criteria available (i.e. country of residence, citizenship and birth), types of flows (i.e. inflows, outflows and net flows), coverage (i.e. citizens, foreigners, both merged), gender as well as collection methods. For more detailed information on these items, please refer to DEMIG C2C Detailed country notes and sources. For the rationale guiding the compilation of the DEMIG C2C, refer to the working paper Uncovering international migration flow data: Insights from the DEMIG databases, Simona Vezzoli et al, (2014), IMI Working Paper Series, 88.

NOTE: For copyright reasons a Limited Online Edition only of DEMIG C2C can be released publicly. The table below refers to the data included in DEMIG C2C Limited Online Edition.

If you draw on information tracked in DEMIG C2C for your research, please cite the database in the following way:

  • DEMIG (2015) DEMIG C2C, version 1.2, Limited Online Edition. Oxford: International Migration Institute, University of Oxford. www.migrationinstitute.org 

© DEMIG June 2015. All rights reserved.

The DEMIG databases are protected under Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases.

The database has been compiled by the DEMIG team, in particular by Simona Vezzoli and María Villares-Varela with the long-term support of Olinka Caunerova and Anaïs Resseguier.


Our team

  • Simona Vezzoli
    Simona Vezzoli

    Research Officer, Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) Centre for Governance of Migration and Diversity (GMD), based at the Institute of History, Leiden University.

  • Maria Villares-Varela
    Maria Villares-Varela

    Lecturer in Sociology

Download the data