Forced Migration: Visualizing Patterns of Refugee Movements

• Activity Number: 162 - SPEED: Government Statistics, Health Policy, and Marketing
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, July 31, 2017 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): Jacquelyn Neal* and Hannah E Weeks
• Companies: Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University
• Keywords: R ; Demographics ; Shiny ; Population statistics

Abstract

Since 1975, the UNHCR has been tracking refugee movement. While some tools exist to visualize this data, they are primarily visual-based: the size of a point on a map is proportional to the number of refugees that originated in a certain country. We've built a Shiny app that allows for an interactive experience, beginning with the choice of a specific country of origin. The country of emigration can then be chosen and the refugee populations examined. For example, what are the patterns of refugee migration to the United States, and how has that changed over time? The Shiny app allows us to easily subset the data and visualize patterns over time. Additionally, limitations of this type of data, and therefore the app, will be discussed.