Understanding internal migration in Pakistan

Abstract

This study estimated the effect of socio-economic factors on internal migration for Pakistan using the Labor Force Survey data, 2013. This study used a sample of 26013 observations. Both bi-variate and multivariate Logistic and Probit analysis were performed. Estimates of Logistic and Probit regressions show that gender has negative and statistically significant effect on migration. Similarly, marriage also has a negative effect on migration indicating as individual gets married, their log-likelihood of migration decreases. Income is statistically significant determinant of migration as analysis exhibited that as income increased, the log-likelihood of internal migration increased too. Education and employment do not determine migration. This study can be used in planning internal migration as for developing countries like Pakistan socioeconomic factors are important determinants of migration. Providing employment and income opportunities can significantly help in reducing the migration. Besides socioeconomic factors, further investigation is required to better understand the perception of individuals with respect to internal migration which this study could not tackle because of nonexistence of such data in the labour force survey.