Preface

• Author: Stephen Quest
• Profession: Director-General Joint Research Centre European Commission
• Pages: 7-7

PREFACE / ATLAS OF MIGRATION 2020

7

PREFACE

2020hasbeen aturbulentyear. AsnotedbyPresident

vonderLeyeninherStateoftheUnionaddress,avirusa

thousandtimessmallerthanagrainofsandhasexposed

howdelicatelifecanbe.Yet,ithasalsoprovidedtheimpetus

forEuropetocometogetherwithrenewedvitality.

Thisnew vitalityisevident inthearea ofmigration. In

thelast years, debateson migrationhave oftenbeen

divisiveandcontentious,susceptibletomisinformationand

manipulation.Duringthepandemic,boththefundamental

rolethatmigrantsplayasessentialworkersandtheirhigher

vulnerabilityhave cometo thefore.In 2020,the New

PactonMigrationandAsylumproposedbytheEuropean

Commissionhasintroduced a“freshstart” andstressed

theneedfora humanandhumane approach,basedon

factsandsolidevidence.

TheAtlas ofMigration2020 isacontribution tobetter

informingthis fresh start on migration. Since 2018,

ourKnowledge Centre on Migration and Demography

hascollated andpresented harmonised andvalidated

internationaldata on migration,demography, asylum,

integrationanddevelopment. The2019edition covered

all28 MemberStates oftheEuropean Unionand 171

countriesandterritoriesaroundtheworld.Thenew,2020

editioncomes withnew factsheetsforeach continent,

facilitatingcomparisonswithinandacrossthem.Theprinted

referencebookisaccompaniedbyaninteractiveonlineone,

a‘livingtool’whichhasimprovedaccessibilityandusability.

TheonlineAtlasofMigrationispopulatedwiththelatest

availabledata,gatheredandprocessedin real-timebya

datarepositoryandpresentedinaccessiblecountryproles,

whichcanbeadaptedandeditedtoindividualneeds.

TheAtlasof Migrationisa shiningexampleof theJoint

ResearchCentre’s capacitytobuild innovativetools to

support the Commission’sculture of evidence-based

policymaking,andIamdelightedthatitissowidelyused

inpolicycircles. Italso providesanimportantreference

sourceofveriedmigrationdataforthegeneralpublicon

atopiccharacterised bymisinformation.Weareworking

withtheEuropeanMigrationNetworktomakeitavailable

in all EU languages.

Partnershipshavebeeninstrumentaltobuildandimprove

theAtlas.MygratitudegoestoallCommissionandEEAS

colleaguesdealingwith migrationwhoseexpertise and

collaborationhaveshaped theAtlas ofMigrationsince

2018,andto allofthe internationalorganisationsthat

havecontributedtotheAtlaswiththeirdata.

Finally,astheCOVID-19 pandemiccontinuestoreshape

societies and economies around the world, the Atlas

of Migration provides an essential resource to start

understandingitsimplicationsformigrationandmobility

intheEU andworldwide.Thethird sectionofthe 2020

editionfocusesclosely ontherelationshipbetween the

pandemicandmigration,providingsomenewinsightsand

foodforthoughtonwhatliesahead.

Stephen Quest

Director-General

JointResearchCentre

EuropeanCommission