Abstract

Producing official statistics on international migration remains a major challenge, particularly in developing countries where household surveys dominate statistical production. In Indonesia, official migration statistics rely heavily on surveys. In the absence of a dedicated international migration survey, current estimates are subject to sampling error, recall bias, and limited ability to capture short-term and circular migration. These limitations hinder full alignment with the United Nations Recommendations, which emphasize comprehensive flow measurement, consistency over time, and systematic use of administrative data.
This paper examines how administrative data from the Indonesian Immigration Agency—specifically passport access records collected at international airports—are integrated into an official statistics framework to support the production of international migration statistics. Through algorithmic processing, these data are transformed into estimates of emigration and immigration flows that can be disaggregated by selected demographic and temporal characteristics. Rather than replacing surveys, the approach repositions household surveys to complement administrative data by providing socio-economic characteristics not available in immigration records.
While administrative data from immigration office have been used in several countries, this study focuses on the institutional and methodological processes required to operationalize such data in a national statistical system where survey-based approaches have traditionally prevailed. The analysis addresses conceptual alignment with UN migration definitions, assessment of key data quality dimensions (coverage, accuracy, timeliness, and coherence), and the development of processing and validation workflows suitable for routine statistical production.
By documenting this integration process in a developing-country context, the paper highlights governance and methodological considerations that differ from experiences in high-income countries. Improved migration statistics derived from this approach support evidence-based policymaking for migrant worker protection, monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals, and implementing the Global Compact for Migration. The Indonesian experience offers transferable insights for national statistical offices seeking to modernize international migration statistics within an official statistics framework.