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4th African School on Migration Statistics 

26th – 28th May 2025 

The 4th iteration of the African School on Migration Statistics (AFMS) took place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, with a focus on forced displacement and statelessness statistics. More than 35 representatives from national statistical offices, regional economic communities, government institutions, international organisations, and multi-lateral development banks participated to discuss the adoption of IRRS, IRIS, and IROSS, the strengthening of statistical coordination, and the ongoing challenges and opportunities to improve statistical inclusion of refugees, IDPs and stateless populations in continent.  

Hosted by Côte d’Ivoire’s Agence Nationale de la Statistique (Anstat), the School was organised by the African Union’s Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC), Statistics Sweden (SCB), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Statistics Norway (SSB), and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) – all member of the Expert Group on Refugee, IDP, and Statelessness Statistics (EGRISS). Financial support for the in-person event came from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UM-ENEN), the European Union (EU), and the German Federal Foreign Office (AA). 

Representatives from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Sudan delivered presentations on implementation efforts in their countries. This documented progress reflects regional momentum, with 28 pledges from African States to pursue statistical inclusion submitted during the 2023 Global Refugee Forum and findings from the 2024 Global Annual Inclusion (GAIN) Survey indicating that 19 countries in the region have integrated the International Recommendations into their national data collection exercises. 

The in-person format proved instrumental in fostering substantive peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and collaborative learning outcomes. Participants acknowledged that lack of nationally owned and better harmonised data continues to hinder evidence-based policymaking and program delivery across Africa, which hosts nearly 42 million forcibly displaced and stateless people. Direct engagement between statistical practitioners enabled nuanced discussions of methodological challenges and facilitated the sharing of contextual insights. 

A report, with recommendations, is forthcoming. 

The event drew on the International Recommendations on Refugee, IDP, and Statelessness Statistics (IRSS, IRIS, and IROSS)
The in-person nature of the ASMS provided great environment for fruitful discussions
The event contributed to shedding light on the implementation of global and regional commitments—including the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR)
Interactive sessions guaranteed peer-to-peer exchange and discussion of cooperation
A group photo of EGRISS members that joined the ASMS
Filip Mitrovic, EGRISS’ technical advisor, provided an introduction to the international recommendations on refugee, IDP and statelessness statistics
Participants reaffirmed the importance of harmonized, collaborative action to support protection and policy responses
In addition to peer exchanges, the event spotlighted successful country experiences from Nigeria, Djibouti, South Sudan, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Cameroon
Participants highlighted the need to Leverage operational data sources when feasible, while ensuring protection-sensitive practices
The “World Café” Session addressed challenges and identified opportunities to improve national statistics on forcibly displaced and stateless persons in Africa
The conference concluded with delegates identifying key priorities for enhancing displacement and statelessness data in Africa

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