Assessment of the Impact of Income Inequality on Population’s Migration

Abstract

. Income inequality and population’s migration are economic processes ongoing in every country, but their scales are different. Although both phenomena – income inequality and population’s migration – earn sufficient scientific attention, scientific literature is still lacking comprehensive studies on interdependence between them. This research is aimed at the assessment of the impact of income inequality on population’s migration. This article highlights how significant it is to assess the impact of income inequality on population’s migration, and reviews the issues of income inequality and population’s migration previously analysed in scientific studies. The research is based on the methodology developed for the EU Member States. The paper provides original perspective as the EU Member States are divided into six groups by their income inequality and net migration rates and the impact of income inequality on population’s migration is researched in particular groups of the current EU Member States by applying the methods of correlation and regression analysis. The results of the research indicate that the impact of income inequality on population’s migration differs within and between the EU Member State groups. Research results revealed that, income inequality has a more significant impact on population’s immigration than on emigration in all EU Member State groups. Income inequality causes population’s emigration only in the states with medium income inequality rates. The paper contributes to the scientific literature of regional development as the quantitative analysis of the interconnection between income inequality and population’s migration is scarce.