By Leonard Doyle

The world of migration is awash with data, but if it is to mean anything to the average reader it must be organized and presented in a useful way. Here we present an animated infographic of the extraordinary movement of Filipino workers abroad and the remittances they send home which are helping their country develop at a great clip. 

The best way to understand, interpret and analyze data is visually. Anyone who has seen a Ted talk presentation from Hans Rosling, the statistics guru who presents with the dramatic urgency of a sportscaster will have found themself practically cheering from the sidelines as his talk progressed.  With good reason, back in 2010 its was Rosling's enthusiasm and his Gapminder software that encouraged the World Bank to open its data sets to the world, and not just as PDFs but in mashable form.

Our approach to data is to use visual representations that allow the audience to see the unexpected. Our infographics are designed to shared as much as possible, whether on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or simply by email. Go on, press the button and start making sense of all the data sitting around in warehouses, stores and data bases waiting to be shared and understood.

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Leonard Doyle is IOM's Online Editor