Abstract
Migration is a core component of population change and is both a symptom and a cause of major economic and social phenomena. However, data limitations mean that gaps remain in our understanding of the patterns and processes of mobility. This is particularly the case for internal migration, which remains under-researched, despite being quantitatively much more significant than international migration. Using the Scottish Longitudinal Study, this paper evaluates the potential value of General Practitioner administrative health data from the National Health Service that can be linked into census-based longitudinal studies for advancing migration research. Issues relating to data quality are considered and, using the illustrative example of internal migration by country of birth, an argument is developed contending that such approaches can offer novel ways of comprehending internal migration, by shedding additional light on the nature of both movers and the moves that they make.
Highlights
Migration is the key driver of population change at the local, regional, and national scales, but is the hardest driver to measure and predict (Stillwell et al 2011)
Recent influential concepts in migration studies, such as the ‘age of migration’ (Castles et al 2014) and the ‘new mobilities’ paradigm (Sheller and Urry 2006), have led to a common assumption that the current epoch is one of unprecedented mobility (Champion and Shuttleworth 2017a). This stands in contrast to an emerging body of evidence that points towards declining rates of internal migration, supposedly as a consequence of economic and demographic change, and due to a wider societal shift towards so-called ‘secular rootedness’ (Cooke 2011; Champion et al 2017)
It should be noted that the analysis described in this paper is based on a test version of National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR) General Practitioner (GP) postcode data, which has subsequently been revised
Summary
ISSN: 0032-4728 (Print) 1477-4747 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpst. Data limitations mean that gaps remain in our understanding of the patterns and processes of mobility. This is the case for internal migration, which remains under-researched, despite being quantitatively much more significant than international migration.
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