As migration becomes increasingly important in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in recent years, the country faces new opportunities and challenges. Current economic growth has, for instance, led to increasing numbers of labour migrants arriving from abroad as well as migrating internally in search of job opportunities in the growing mining and natural gas industry. Yet, maximizing the positive impacts of migration on the country’s human development requires informed decision-making and policy development.

Carried out in collaboration with the Government of Papua New Guinea and recognizing the need for improved migration-related data for effective and comprehensive planning and policymaking, the assessment of migration data management in Papua New Guinea has revealed that the country has rich sources of migration data which remain largely untapped up to present. The assessment covered 20 existing datasets on migration and the country’s 15 digital databases.

The report provides an overview of all the existing datasets, assesses what information they contain and their accessibility to various potential data users.  Furthermore, the assessment identifies data gaps and reveals additional sources, which could potentially be used to fill them.  National capacity to collect, analyze, report and share data is also assessed and key short, medium and long term measures are recommended to enhance migration data management and the resulting evidence base that is essential for effective planning and policymaking on migration and development in Papua New Guinea.