A country training course on Population and Migration Statistics was organized by Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries for the experts of the Statistical Centre of Iran from 7 to 9 August, 2017.

During the opening ceremony of the training course on “Population and Migration Statistics”, Ms. Bani Hashemi, Director General of Population, Labour Force Statistics and Census of the SCI mentioned that: despite negative effects of migration in the country of origin or the country of destination, migration can have positive results. Stressing on the significance of studying and reviewing the effects of internal migration, she said: migration theories often refer to the origin, but unfortunately little studies has been made in our country and in order to study migration intensively, it is necessary to identify sources and produce required statistics and this training course can be an efficient step.

Emphasizing on the important role of migration for formation of civilizations and societies, Ms. Bani Hashemi reiterated: formation of societies is accompanied by migration and it has led to significant changes in the societies. For example, migration of Muhammad, prophet and founder of Islam., (peace be upon him) from Mecca to Medina resulted in establishing an Islamic government or migration of the Europeans to America that brought about formation of a new country.

Mentioning the fact that migration can reduce fertility rate, population and labor force in the country of origin and bring about some negative effects in the country of destination such as environment destruction, she added: migration can be considered from negative and positive view, for example, migration of the Afghans to other countries like Iran and migration of the Syrians to Europe were due to war. However, despite negative effects in the country of origin/destination, migration can lead to positive results. For instance, migration of the Syrians to Germany changed negative population growth rate of this county into positive or migration of the Afghans to other countries led to the promotion of the literacy of the migrants so that they could manage their country after their return to Afghanistan.     

Then, with regard to increasing number of Muslem migrants in recent years, she emphasized on the necessity of collaboration among the Islamic countries and sharing their experiences so that they can study and review the effects of the migration in these countries.