Indirectly Estimating International Net Migration Flows by Age and Gender: The Community Demographic Model International Migration (CDM-IM) Dataset

Although data for the total number of international migrant flows is now available, no global dataset concerning demographic characteristics, such as the age and gender composition of migrant flows, exists. This article reports on the methods used to generate the CDM-IM dataset of age- and gender-specific profiles of bilateral net (not gross) migrant flows. The researchers employ raw data from the United Nations Global Migration Database and estimate net migrant flows by age and gender between two time points around the year 2000, accounting for various demographic processes (fertility, mortality). The dataset contains information on 3,713 net migrant flows. Validation analyses against existing datasets and the historical, geopolitical context demonstrate that the CDM-IM dataset is of reasonably high quality.