Structure and Dynamic of Global Population Migration Network

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the global migration network from 1960 to 2015 using network theory, revealing a hierarchical core-periphery structure and a trend towards multi-centering, reflecting complex international migration dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a network-based approach to model multilateral migration relationships, capturing structural features and evolution over fifty years.

Findings

Global migration networks show clustering and disassortative features.

Hierarchical core-periphery structure identified in migration networks.

Migration patterns exhibit a multi-centering trend since the 1990s.

Abstract

Cross-border migration brings economic and cultural impacts to the origin and destination, and is also a key to reflect the international relations of related countries. In fact, the migration relationships of countries are complex and multilateral, but most traditional migration models are bilateral. Network theories could provide a better description of global migration to show the structure and statistical characteristics more clearly. Based on the estimated migration data and disparity filter algorithm, the networks describing the global multilateral migration relationships has been extracted among 200 countries over fifty years. The results show that the global migration networks during 1960-2015 exhibit a clustering and disassortative feature, implying globalized and multipolarized changes of migration during these years. The networks were embed into a Poincar\'e disk, yielding a typical and hierarchical "core-periphery" structure which, associated with angular density distribution, has been used to describe the "multi-centering" trend since 1990s. Analysis on correlation and evolution of communities indicates the stability of most communities yet some structural changes still exist since 1990s, which reflect that the important historical events are contributable to regional and even global migration patterns.