Causes of Rural-Urban Migration and Its Effect on Quality of Life

Abstract

The important theme of the current research is to investigate the causes of migration and its effect on quality of life. The main objective of the study was to see the effect of migration on household income in rural areas of Punjab-Pakistan especially in district vehari. A total of 322 sampled respondents were purposively interviewed. The study indicates that about 71% of the total respondents migrated with their families during the period (2008-2017). The study revealed that, quality of education, and employment and family conflict were observed as major causes of rural-urban migration. Due to non-parametric distribution of data Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to see before and after effect of migration on household income and expenditures. To check the hypothesis regression analysis has been conducted. The Moreover, after migration the monthly income and expenditure of the respondents increased. The earning members of 66.8% of the respondents increased after migration. The joint families were scattered in to nuclear family. Before migration business were the main occupation of about 42% of the respondents while after migration most of them were engaged with private jobs and some have their own business. The education ratio of 85.3% of the respondents increased with migration. Positive changes have been observed in pre and post facilities under consideration. It is concluded from the result that education was the major cause that enhance the quality of life. It is recommended that basic facilities like education, health and creation of off-farm jobs, improved training opportunities and development programs should be provided to rural peoples. It also depicts several empirical studies conducted in different countries.