Irregular migration is a top priority in the European Union. Due to security and financial concerns, an increasing amount of resources are devoted to preventing people from entering without authorization, and to enforcing the return of non-EU citizens who are not (or no longer) authorized to stay. At the same time, NGOs point to serious humanitarian side effects of this restrictive policy approach. Despite the political relevance of the phenomenon, assessments of the size of the irregular migrant population are often vague and of unclear origin. This website aims at increasing transparency in this sensitive field.

• find estimates for individual countries and Europe (Database on irregular migration)
• find explanations on the presentation and classification of estimates (Database explanations)
• find background information (Background information)

The database was created in the context of CLANDESTINO "Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable – Data and Trends across Europe", a project funded by the European Commission, DG Research, Sixth Framework Programme. In the course of the project (2007-2009), partner organisations from six EU countries have reviewed the situation in twelve EU and three transit countries. More information on the project is available in the brochure. As the institution hosting the website, the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) hopes that the database will become a useful tool not only for academics, but also for policy makers, civil society actors and journalists.

Final results of the EU-funded project CLANDESTINO:
 Size of irregular migration
 Pathways into irregularity
 Political discourses

For detailed information, go to stocks on the EU level

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