International Labour Migration Statistics Database in ASEAN (ILMS)

The International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) Database in ASEAN has been published annually since December 2014 as a special collection on the ILO’s central database, ILOSTAT, as well as through the AP-Migration web-portal. In validating, annotating and gathering together the information from the relevant surveys and administrative records produced in ten ASEAN Member States (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam), ILMS Database in ASEAN fills an important knowledge gap for national and regional policy-makers and for the broader research community.

The ILMS database was initially created in 1998 by ILOSTAT, EUROSTAT, UNSD and UNECE, and regularly updated to include data from 94 countries until 2006. The ILO’s ASEAN TRIANGLE reinvigorated the ILMS database for ASEAN in 2012 and has since then continuously highlighted the strategic importance of labour migration statistics in the region and beyond.

In July 2018, ILO Statistical Department’s (STATISTICS) decided to restart collection of ILMS at global level. Reinvigoration of the ILMS database at global level is important both for SDG monitoring, national planning, and global evidence base on labour migration. Statistics from official sources, mainly labour force surveys, censuses and administrative datasets, are collected on International Labour Migration Questionnaires (ILMQ) developed by the ILO. 

ILMS database access

The database can also be accessed from the ILOSTAT portal and through APMigration.