Migration and integration issues are at the center of the political and public debate in Europe. The scale of international migration has increased further in recent years. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of international migrants is estimated to be almost 272 million globally (3.5% of the world population). For this number of migrants, migration and integration policies are key as they not only influence their ability to enter a country, but also the possibility to remain in the country, and their quality of life there.

Researchers have carried out systematic comparative analyses of migration and integration trends (e.g. migration inflows and integration outcomes of migrants) as well as analysed policies on migration and integration. Several data sources are available to this end. 

Regarding migration and integration policy, over the last twenty years, researchers have undertaken systematic comparisons of migration policies by creating sets of indicators at the national level, and then aggregating them into an index. Indicators and indexes have the purpose of (i) understanding the nature of migration policy, (ii) allowing for cross-country comparison over time, and (iii) monitoring the evolution of policy frameworks. Researchers have developed these indicators on a wide range of areas, including admission policies (e.g., IMPIC), citizenship acquisition (e.g., GLOBALCIT), and integration policies (e.g., MIPEX).

Eurostat, which is the statistical office of the European Union, provides a wide range of statistics on migration trends and integration outcomes. Data is gathered through National statistical offices and EU-surveys.

Figures are generally available on both (a) people that were born in a country different from the country where they reside, and (b) people that have the citizenship of a country other than the one where they reside. Data are available on three main areas: 

• Demography and migration, which includes statistics on foreign-born and/or foreign-national population, acquisition of citizenship, and marriages. 

• Asylum & managed migration, including statistics on asylum applicants, residence permits, enforcement of immigration legislation, and children in migration.

• Migrant integration, which includes information on different domains of integration of migrants in their country of destination (e.g. education, employment, active citizenship, social inclusion, housing, poverty, and health).

Furthermore, several European-wide social surveys, either commissioned by EU institutions or coordinated at European level, contribute to a better understanding of integration-related issues. They include general population surveys such as the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions Survey (EU-SILC), the European Social Survey (ESS), Eurobarometer, and the European Values Study (EVS). 

In conclusion, further research employing data from these sources would help in understanding the role that migration and integration policies play in influencing migration trends and migrants’ integration outcomes.