Distric-9 like ship hovering over Malmö in June 2025

Unlocking Migration Insights: Personal Name Classification & Big Data at IFMS 2025

From June 16–18 in Malmö, the 4th International Forum on Migration Statistics (IFMS 2025) brings together statisticians, policymakers, demographers, and data scientists to advance innovative tools—especially Big Data and AI—for richer, more timely migration statistics.

One particularly promising innovation, already used by the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) as part of its Diaspora Mapping and Engagement Toolkit, is personal name classification, a technique that leverages large datasets of names to infer migration patterns and origins

FDI Manget is NamSor offering for Foreign Direct Investment promotion since 2014.

ChatGPT on Diaspora & FDI best practices

A country can use its diaspora, or the group of people who have emigrated from the country and settled in other parts of the world, to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) by leveraging their connections, resources, and knowledge. Diaspora mapping tools like NamSor Origin can help to better target diasporas for investment promotion and growing remittances by providing detailed information on the demographics and characteristics of a country’s diaspora population.

IOM Diaspora Mapping Toolkit Pagecover

IOM Diaspora Mapping Toolkit : big data and onomastics

The IOM Diaspora Mapping Toolkit analyses pros & cons for the use of big data and onomastics for Diaspora Mapping. It is based on field experience learned from several project conducted by The International Organization for Migration (IOM) using NamSor technology. One particular case study cited in the report is Skills Mapping Through Big Data: A case study of Armenian diaspora in the United States of America and France

Diaspora networks accross the world (DALL-E)

What is a diaspora (according to ChatGPT)

At NamSor, since 2012, we’ve helped countries reconnect with their diaspora, using our advanced AI to recognize personal names with high accuracy, and to produce new disaggregated information. It took us a while to understand the concept of “diaspora”, how they affect foreign direct investment, remittances, brain-gain vs. brain-drain, the travel industry, real estate … We’ve asked ChatGPT “what is a diaspora”.