INTRODUCTION

International migration throughout the world has increased so dramatically in recent decades that in 1990 as many as 120 million people were estimated to be living outside their native country (UNFPA, The State of World Population, 1999). In Latin America, only considering population movements within the region and towards North America, population censuses indicate that the number of migrants grew from 1.5 million in 1960 to 11 million in 1990. This means that whereas 40 years ago Latin American migrants accounted for about 0.7% of the region’s total population, in the past decade the proportion is likely to have reached 2.5%, having grown much faster than total population (6.6% on an annual average basis compared to 1.8%). Moreover, these figures are probably underestimates as they exclude migratory movements outside the region and have not been corrected for under-reporting.

This situation and its consequences have been discussed in a number of global and regional forums, which have recommended strengthening information exchange on migratory movements. Chapter 10 of the Program of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), is devoted to international migration, where paragraph 10.8 on migratory data states, "In cooperation with international and non-governmental organizations and research institutions, Governments should support the gathering of data on flows and stocks of international migrants, factors causing migration, and the monitoring of international migration." (United Nations, 1995).

Given that records of cross-border population movements, particularly those considered as migratory, do not provide reliable data, population censuses are one of the main information sources for understanding migratory behaviour. Census data on place of birth and year of arrival in the country, in the case of people born abroad, is used for this purpose. It is also useful, especially when the year of arrival is not obtained, to enquire about people’s habitual place of residence five years prior to the census, as a way of determining the most recent movements.

The Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE) of the Population Division of ECLAC has strongly recommended including these questions in the region’s censuses. In the early 1970s a research project entitled "Investigation of International Migration in Latin America" (IMILA) was set up in order to construct a database of the main characteristics of people included in censuses outside their native country. Censuses have also formed the basis of a number of programs in which ECLAC/CELADE have participated, one of the most recent being the System of Information on International Migration in the Countries of the Andean Community (SIMICA), and for its participation as an observer in the Regional Consultation Group on International Migration in Central and North America (GRCM).

The IMILA database currently contains a set of standard tables on people born abroad, classified by country of origin, sex, age, period of arrival, marital status, education level, economic characteristics and average number of children per woman. These tables reveal differences between countries and between censuses that depend on the way in which the issues have been investigated and categories defined in each case. One of the differences relates to the type of census, which may be either de facto or de jure. De facto censuses include the individuals actually present in the household at the time of the census, whereas a de jure census covers habitual residents, including those who happen to be absent at the time. Information entered into the IMILA database makes it possible to reconstruct the characteristics of nationals residing abroad for every country of the region; this information is at the respective governments’ disposal. Part of the information is also disseminated through the Demographic Bulletin, which has published three editions in this topic (No. 21 of July 1997, No. 37 of the January 1986 and No. 43 of January 1989). The present edition of the Bulletin contains new information from the censuses carried out in the 1990s together with information published in Bulletin No. 43, with a view to bringing together, in a single volume, data on migratory populations obtained from the latest census rounds.

Table 1 gives the migration matrix, with the rows corresponding to the country in which migrants were surveyed and the columns to their country of birth. An approximate estimate of the total number of a given country’s nationals living abroad is calculated in the column corresponding to that country by adding up all nationals recorded as present in other countries for the censuses carried out in the respective decade. Censuses included were those undertaken between the 1960s and the 1990s and for which data is available. A supplement to this Bulletin contains a spreadsheet with this matrix, showing the overall situation. As this only provides information on the aggregate number of migrants, use was also made of census publication data in cases where the microdata for generating the IMILA tables was not available.

The subsequent tables correspond to the censuses that are available for each country of the region, plus Canada and United States. Most of this information was processed at CELADE, but in some cases tabulations were requested from the countries involved. In the cases of Canada and United States, use was made of publications and databases supplied by the respective census bureaux. The explanatory notes at the beginning of each country’s tables state the sources used for each census and provide any necessary clarifications.

For each Latin American country, the 12 origin countries that account for the largest number of foreign-residents are listed in descending order. In the tables corresponding to the censuses of the United States and Canada, different criteria were followed; the US table provides figures for migrants originating from the 20 countries that this Bulletin considers as Latin American and for which information was available; the Canadian case includes the 14 countries from which the largest number of Latin American and Caribbean-born Canadian residents originate.

The classification of the economically active foreign population by activity branch is practically the same in all countries, and the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISCI) has been used for this purpose. The correspondence between the abbreviations used and the details that activity branch is shown in table 2.

An attempt was also made to assimilate the classification of the economically active population by occupational status, to the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). Table 3 explains the abbreviations used in this case. In some cases are used other occupation categories, a detail of the abbreviations are presented in table 4.

NA question not asked

- census not carried out in that decade

… information not available at CELADE

Table 3