Exploratory social-spatial network analysis of global migration structure

At the global level, international migration can be considered as a network of migration exchanges between different countries. Employing an exploratory network analysis of the international migration structure, the present paper examines the structural characteristics of this network and the status of the countries. The analysis is done using the socio-spatial approach. Results show that as the severity of network ties grow, the number of ties reduce significantly and ties are asymmetric. Most of the migrations in the international migration structure have also taken place outside the near and neighboring countries. The network analysis showed two migration patterns of "International Migratory Highways" and "Migratory Clusters". In the first migration pattern, migrations are largely asymmetric and towards the major centers of immigration, while in the second one, migrations are mostly symmetric and within specific geographical areas.