To fully understand the causes and consequences of international migration and its impact
on characteristics of the population in the UK, researchers and policy makers need to build a
reliable, useful and understandable evidence base. However, available information and
statistics on international migration in the UK are uncertain and have limitations that firstly
need to be fully understood. Inconsistencies in availability, definitions and quality (Poulain et
al 2006) mean that there is work to be done to better understand international migration in …