Abstract

One of the major challenges facing the human population in the near future will be migration. The international community is projecting the move of 216 million people within their own countries or outwards in the next few decades (Clement et al., 2021). Even if migrations as a phenomenon have existed throughout human history, continuous research into their better understanding, planning, projections, and facilitation is needed. Among several approaches to quantify and analyse migration, such as panel data analysis (Mayda, 2005), time series analysis (Bijak et al., 2019), agent-based simulation (Klabunde & Willekens, 2016), clustering (Ramon-Gonen & Gelbard, 2017), composite indicators emerged (Soriano-Miras et al., 2020).
The newly proposed index, which catches attention, is the Immigration Index score published by Remitly (Remitly, 2025). The index was launched in 2025 and ranks 82 countries based on their appeal for immigration. The composite metric is created as the weighted sum of the following pillars: Connectivity, Healthcare, Immigrant communities, Education and family, World happiness score, Public transport, Access to banking, Cost of living balance, Unemployment, Earning potential, Safety index score, Economy score, and Environmental score. In total, the index captures 13 categories, with a total possible score of 1175 points. Finally, the index values are normalized to a 0-100 scale for easier comparison.
This study will examine how values of other composite indicators in the aspects of environment (Climate Change Performance Index), rule of law (Rule of Law Index), digitalisation (Network Readiness Index), and global talent and competitiveness (Global Talent Index) impact the values of the Immigration Index. The analysis will be based on the official composite indicator data for 2023-2025, as available, and different methods of multivariate analysis. As these algorithms are sensitive to missing data and the observed indices rank different numbers of countries, the final dataset will include only those countries ranked on all five indices.
By examining the interaction between the chosen composite indicators and the Immigration Index, the study can provide a holistic understanding of how economic, environmental, and social factors impact the attractiveness of a country when it comes to income migrations. These insights might be helpful to decision-makers on both the country and regional levels, offering insights for policy-making, economic planning, sustainable development, and later immigrant integration.
Acknowledgment: This research was supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, Grant no. 7358, Population dynamics under environmental challenges in Serbia – POPENVIROS.