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Migrant Integration Policy Index

PRESENTATION

The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) is a unique long-term project which evaluates and compares what governments are doing to promote the integration of migrants in all EU Member States and several non-EU countries.

 

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MIPEX has a dedicated website where you can play with the data and make your charts and maps to compare and improve integration policies.
Click here to visit it.

What is MIPEX?

The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) is a unique tool which measures policies to integrate migrants in all EU Member States, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA.

167 policy indicators have been developed to create a rich, multi-dimensional picture of migrants’ opportunities to participate in society. The index is a useful tool to evaluate and compare what governments are doing to promote the integration of migrants in all the countries analysed.

The project informs and engages key policy actors about how to use indicators to improve integration governance and policy effectiveness.

To that end, the project identifies and measures integration outcomes, integration policies, and other contextual factors that can impact policy effectiveness; describes the real and potential beneficiaries of policies; and collects and analyses high-quality evaluations of integration policy effects.

Thanks to the relevance and rigor of its indicators, the MIPEX has been recognised as a common quick reference guide across Europe. Policymakers, NGOs, researchers, and European and international institutions are using its data not only to understand and compare national integration policies, but also to improve standards for equal treatment.

Building on its ongoing success, the MIPEX project is entering its fourth edition with a new policy strand and additional indicators.

Why use MIPEX?

Integration actors can struggle to find up-to-date, comprehensive research data and analysis on which to base policies, proposals for change and projects to achieve equality in their country. Instead they may find anecdotal, out-dated information and piecemeal statistics that are too disconnected from the real impact on people’s lives to assist in formulating improvements.

The MIPEX aims to address this by providing a comprehensive tool which can be used to assess, compare and improve integration policy. The MIPEX includes 38 countries in order to provide a view of integration policies across a broad range of differing environments.
The tool allows you to dig deep into the multiple factors that influence the integration of migrants into society and allows you to use the full MIPEX results to analyse and assess past and future changes in policy.

Who produces MIPEX?

The project “Integration policies: Who benefits? The development and use of indicators in integration debates” is led by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), and the Migration Policy Group (MPG). The project conducts a complete review of integration outcomes, policies, and beneficiaries in all EU Member States, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA.

MIPEX history

The Migrant Integration Policy Index was first published in 2004 as the European Civic Citizenship and Inclusion Index. It was the first time that the policies of the EU-15 towards migrants had been presented in a concise, transparent and comparable format. The 2004 Index was positively received by target audiences – NGOs, governments, academics, press and European Institutions such as the European Commission and European Parliament. It was launched in Brussels, Madrid and London. The 2004 MIPEX was a collaboration of the British Council, Migration Policy Group, Foreign Policy Centre and University of Sheffield. It was part-funded by the Barrow-Cadbury Charitable Trust and Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

The second edition of the MIPEX, conducted in 2007, measures policies to integrate migrants in 25* EU Member States and Canada, Norway and Switzerland. It uses over 140 policy indicators covering six policy areas which shape a migrant’s journey to full citizenship: Labour market access; Family reunion; Long-term residence; Political participation; Access to nationality and Anti-discrimination. The MIPEX II was launched to the international press in Brussels in October 2007 followed by national events across Europe to stimulate discussions and debate. The MIPEX II partnership was led by the British Council together with MPG and co-financed by the European Community under the European Commission DG Freedom, Security and Justice INTI (Integrating Third Country Nationals) programme.

The third edition of the MIPEX, conducted in 2011, measured policies to integrate migrants in 27 EU Member States and Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Serbia, South Korea, Switzerland and the USA. It used over 148 policy indicators covering seven policy areas which shape a migrant’s journey to full citizenship: Labour market mobility; Family reunion; Education; Political participation; Long-term residence; Access to nationality and Anti-discrimination.  The MIPEX III was launched to the international press in Brussels in February 2011 followed by national events across Europe to stimulate discussions and debate. The MIPEX III partnership was led by the British Council together with MPG, was produced as part of the project ‘Outcomes for Policy Change’, and was co-financed by the European Fund for Integration of Third-Country Nationals.


LATEST PRODUCTS

Browse all MIPEX publications


MIPEX WORK IN USE

Last meeting of the European Integration Forum refers to MIPEX and the SIRIUS network

At the last meeting of the European Integration Forum, which focused on ‘Integration of Migrant Youth in European Society’, several speakers referred to the work of MPG.

The meeting’s report cites MIPEX as a successful initiative which offers “a useful tool for policy evaluation and cross-country comparison“. In addition,  the SIRIUS network, a policy network set up by the European Commission in 2011 and for which MPG acts as Communications Officer, was introduced. The report states that the SIRIUS network proposes “a shift from a school approach to a community approach, that creates networks of organisations that are working in the same direction as schools, and a shift from an integration approach to an inclusion approach, to reduce the division into separate educational tracks, to improve teachers’ competences in diversity management, and to create an ethos within the school and the community“.

Finally, the EWSI Special Feature on migrant political participation, drafted by MPG, was distributed to all participants.

Download the meeting’s report.

UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration uses MIPEX for its report on the new family reunion rules

APPGMThe UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration used MIPEX for its recent report of the inquiry into new family migration rules.

This inquiry arose out of cross-party concern that the introduction of a new minimum income requirement for those seeking to sponsor a non-EEA partner and any children, and of new rules affecting sponsorship of adult dependents, may have led to family members being unnecessarily and unfairly separated from one another.

“The Committee received some evidence indicating that the income requirement is likely to have long-term social impacts in the UK. The Brussels-based Migration Policy Group reported that “the UK has now set an income threshold that is higher than in all other major Western countries of immigration, [except] oil-rich Norway”. A small number of individual submissions described how UK sponsors had chosen to move overseas in order to live with their non-EEA partner. In a small number of cases seen by an organisation working with ethnic minorities in Scotland, the UK sponsor and non-EEA partner had moved to another country in the European Union in order to benefit from European law on family reunification before potentially returning to the UK in the future.”

Download the full report of the inquiry here, and read our assessment of the new UK rules for family reunion here.

MIPEX WORK IN CONTEXT


EVENTS

Are you looking for past news and events related to the Migrant Integration Policy Index?

News and events prior to 2012 are available in our archive.