Using Wikipedia data to monitor big migration events

Tracking and predicting migration patterns, especially those arising from unforeseen factors like conflicts, can be challenging. Digital trace data offer an innovative approach to track, predict, and assess real-time changes in migration patterns faster than traditional data sources. In this study, we propose a methodology to use Wikipedia data to determine how the number of views on Wikipedia pages about countries and cities around the world change over time due to rising interest, in response to big migration events. As a case study, we focus on recent mass migration events caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Our results show a correlation between the number of views on Ukrainian Wikipedia pages dedicated to European capitals and the number of Ukrainian refugees in European countries. Similarly, we observed a high correlation between the number of views on Ukrainian Wikipedia pages dedicated Polish cities and the number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Our findings reveal opportunities in the use of Wikipedia as a proxy to study and predict mass migration flows.