nexustandards.com/society · 1 taught
Governance, Security and Society
NRS-H116 Population structure and movement
1standard1discipline
Illustrative: migration and displacement corridors, between generated places
Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Hazards, Disasters and Resilience · Department of Humanitarian Action, Mobility and Community Resilience
Voluntary, labour and climate-related mobility and the exposure it changes
Migration and human mobility
People move toward opportunity and away from risk, and each move changes exposure at origin and destination.
- Courses
- In preparation
- Levels
- In development
- Labs
- In development
- Drivers of migration
- Labour migration and remittances
- Climate-related mobility
- Planned relocation
- Immobility and trapped populations
- Urbanisation and migrant exposure
- Migration governance
- Data on human mobility
Courses in development extend the scope to one further subject: Migration, mobility and risk.
02Maps
Build a twin of any place
Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow migration and human mobility on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.
- Terrain 59 to 3,044 m
- 2 reference earthquakes, M7.5 to M7.8
- 3,643,786 people in the box, 2020
- Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week: read live when the 3D twin opens
- USGS ShakeMap intensity contours: read live when the 3D twin opens
Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.
Flat plan of the same data: relief, the two epicentres with magnitude and depth, the WorldPop count grid and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.
The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).
03Live map
People and exposure in India
Population density, night-time lights, air quality, heat and floods, over India.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
People and exposure
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
People and exposure, framed on India.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (7 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
04The subject
The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies
The field and its scope
For analysts, planners and policy officers who need to read migration data, understand why people move or stay, and see how mobility changes exposure to hazards in places of origin and destination.
Quantities and units
Methods and their limits
Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.
What the field debates
Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish
Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.
05The method
From a wage gap to a migration flow: how population, income differentials, distance and a diaspora enter a gravity model
An origin's population sets how many could move; the income ratio with the destination sets the pull; distance stands for the cost; an existing diaspora lowers that cost; the gravity model combines them into a flow and an emigration rate that a policy maker reads against a scenario.
Sources: Lee, A theory of migration (1966); Massey et al., Theories of international migration: a review and appraisal (1993); Beine, Docquier and Ozden, Diasporas (2011); Black et al., The effect of environmental change on human migration (2011).
06At a glance
At a glance, standards and evidence, research and evidence, what is changing and learning
Migration and human mobility at a glance
risksacademy.comhazards-resiliencediscipline
- Open, 0
- In preparation, 1
- Subtopics, 8
Nexus Standards it teaches and relies on
The Nexus Standards the discipline teaches toward, grouped by master standard, with the disciplines that teach each.
nexustandards.com/humanitarian · 1 taught
Humanitarian Action and Development
NRS-D8 Displacement, migration and mobility risk
1standard1discipline
Nexus Standards at the AcademyThe Academy proposes how each discipline teaches toward the Nexus Standards; the mapping is open for public review.
Research and tools
Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.
The hub lists the newest research and preprints for Migration and human mobility, each with its source and date. Open the research hub
What is changing now
Recent developments in migration and human mobility, each with its source; sources checked on 16 October 2026.
- Dataset
Internal displacement dips slightly but conflict displacements hit a record
IDMC's 2026 global report counted 82.2 million people internally displaced at end-2025, the first decrease in a decade, while conflict displacements rose about 60% to a record 32.3 million and disaster displacements fell to 29.9 million.
Why it matters. Returns do not equal durable solutions, and IDMC notes data gaps; mobility risk analysis needs to combine conflict and disaster triggers in the same places.
Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2026 Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID), 1 May 2026.
Courses in this discipline
Courses for this discipline are in development; until they open, study it through the connected courses and open lessons below.
The connected disciplines below teach the methods it builds on.
07Console
How Migration and human mobility is taught, as a process you can run
Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.
08Practice
Practice, learning and connections
How technology helps and what risk it brings
| Aspect | In this area |
|---|---|
| Technology that helps | Digital public infrastructure and digital identity. |
| Risk technology creates | Exclusion, surveillance and the automation of work. |
- RAN-350 Digital Public Infrastructure: Safeguards and Resilience In development
- RAN-352 Workforce Risk and the Future of Work In development
- RAN-369 Autonomous Vehicles, Drones and Uncrewed Systems Risk In development
Achievements in this discipline
Course achievements
One for each course with this as its primary discipline, earned when you pass the course's assessed activities.
Department: Humanitarian Action, Mobility and Community Resilience
Earn two discipline achievements in the Department of Humanitarian Action, Mobility and Community Resilience. In development.
Cross-faculty: Climate, migration and cities
Courses in connected disciplines and a passed integrative task. In development.
An achievement is a record of the learning completed and assessed here. How recognition works.
Where the subject is practised
- The Global Risks Forum (GRF)Diplomacy NexusMigration and displacement
Field platforms of the ecosystem where the subject is studied and applied.
The two Foundry systems where it is practised
- FoundryNXS-GRX systemMobility and population statisticsData room
- NXS-DSS systemMobility under alternative futuresScenarios room
Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.
Disciplines it depends on
- Faculty of Earth and Environmental SciencesClimate science, variability and changeThe discipline covers the physical climate system: observed baselines.
- Faculty of Infrastructure, Energy and IndustryCities, housing and the built environmentThe discipline covers how urban form, buildings, housing, mobility and services concentrate exposure.
Across the ecosystem
09Take part
Take part in Hazards, Disasters and Resilience
Start from who you are.
10References
Core references and where to begin
Start with Lee, then Massey, then Foresight.
11Questions
Questions, answers and key terms
Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in migration and human mobility?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.
Key terms
Term
Human mobility
The movement of people within or across borders, voluntary or forced, temporary or permanent.
Term
Planned relocation
A managed move of a community away from a place at high risk, with support to settle elsewhere.
Term
Remittances
Money that migrants send to families or communities in their place of origin.
Term
Trapped population
People who would move away from risk but lack the means or freedom to do so.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Risk Academy
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Around Migration and human mobility
Migration and human mobility
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Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.