Despite the many potential sources of stress and strain that accompany a migration situation, there are very few data in official statistics with regard to the health and social situation of migrants in Germany. The fact that this information is not available for public health reporting could lead to problems of improper, lacking or excessive health care. A working group within the Arbeitskreis Migration und Offentliche Gesundheit has been addressing this problem since 2003. In this article, a systematic overview of the most important data sources for public health reporting and of the indicators for migration background and social status that each one contains will be given. After that we will present examples of good practice in migration-sensitive data collection at the local and national level. Finally suggestions for improving the data situation with regard to the health of migrants based on the recommendation for recording the migration status in epidemiological studies will be made.