Plentiful research shows that children on the move face greater risks of falling victim to trafficking, exploitation, violence or abuse. The lack of data on migrant children, explored in this Data Bulletin, is therefore particularly concerning precisely because data are essential in providing evidence to inform decision-making and programming to protect children. To devise an adequate protection response and to better identify child migrants’ vulnerabilities, needs, and how migration and asylum policies may affect them, we should ideally know children’s basic demographic characteristics, such as their age and sex, where they come from, where they are going, why they are moving, and whether they are with their families or alone on their journeys.

IOM’s “Data Bulletin Series: Informing the Implementation of the Global Compact for Migration” spans a broad range of topics covered by the Global Compact for Migration, highlighting currently available data sources as well as data gaps and challenges relevant to each of them. Each Data Bulletin contains illustrative examples of initiatives and recommendations of investments needed to strengthen the evidence base underpinning the respective thematic area. The Data Bulletins are meant to provide a useful resource for decision makers as they begin to think about implementation of the Global Compact for Migration and the related data needs.