Applications of Conformable Migration Matrices

Abstract

To understand the process of interregional migration it is useful to consider the level of mobility and the spatial pattern of migration as 2 distinct attributes. Using a family of conformable migration matrices the authors found that the eigenvalues of a migration matrix remained real and nonnegative under the condition that the mobility level changed and the spatial pattern of migration remained the same. To the extent that this condition held approximately for an actual population system regional population shares tended to have smoother time paths than the population shares of individual age groups. The evaluation of the level of conformity among the age specific migration matrices of an 8 region Swedish female population system showed that in terms of the spatial pattern of migration as well as mobility level young dependent age groups were very similar to corresponding parental age groups; each age group tended to conform to a neighboring age group; and the age group that differed most from others was the 15-19 age group which contained women at the launching stage of the life cycle.