Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online

Extract

In general, internal migration refers to the movement of individuals or populations within a social system. More specifically, following the United Nations definition, internal migration is a permanent change in residence from one geographical unit to another within a particular country. For example, internal migration may involve a change in residence from a rural area to a city, from one city to another, or from one region of a country to another. From the perspective of the destination or receiving area, an individual making such a move is an in-migrant, while that same individual is an out-migrant from the sending area. Because internal migration has profound individual-level and collective repercussions, research on the topic remains a popular endeavor for economists, geographers, and demographers, despite the absence of ideal data or definitional consensus.The importance of migration derives primarily from its position as one of the central demographic processes that shape the size, distribution, and composition of populations. Changes in the size of a population can be thought of as a function of two forces, natural increase (the relative numbers of births and deaths) and net migration (the relative number of in-migrants and out-migrants). Whereas overall rates of mortality and fertility tend to change fairly slowly over time, the size of a population may increase or decrease ... log in or subscribe to read full text