Migration in India 2020-2021

According to the report, the migration rate (percentage of migrants in the population) in India during July 2020 to July 2021 was 28.9 per cent. The migration rate in rural areas was 26.5 per cent of the total population while in urban areas the rate was 34.9 per cent of the total population.

The percentage of temporary visitors in the country was 0.7 per cent – 0.7 per cent in rural areas and 0.6 per cent in urban areas.

The migration rate among men was recorded to be much lower in rural areas (5.9 per cent) than in urban areas (22.5 per cent). On the other hand, the migration rate among women was similar in both rural and urban regions – 48 per cent and 47.8 per cent respectively.

The most common reasons for migration among male migrants were: in search of employment or better employment (22.8 per cent), to take up offered employment opportunities or be close to their place of work (20.1 per cent), due to migration of a parent or other earning member of the family (17.5 per cent), and loss of job (6.7 per cent).

The female migrants surveyed responded with marriage (86.8 per cent), migration of a parent or other earning member of the family (7.3 per cent), housing problems (0.8 per cent), and to take up employment (0.7 per cent) as the most common reasons for migration.

The report presents data on rural-urban migration streams in the country during 2020-21. It states that the majority of migrants (55 per cent) migrated from one rural area to another rural area. Around 18.9 per cent migrated from rural to urban areas, 15.9 per cent migrated from one urban area to another and 10.2 per cent migrated from an urban region to a rural one.

There is a notable difference in the share of male and female migrants across the migration streams. Whereas 18 per cent of male migrants were part of the ‘rural to rural’ migration stream, the share of female migrants was as high as 63.3 per cent. The 'urban to rural’ migration stream had 20.8 per cent of all male migrants but only 7.8 per cent of female migrants.

Migration within the ‘rural to urban’ stream accounted for 33.5 per cent of male migrants and 15.6 per cent of female migrants. Further, 27.6 per cent of male migrants and 13.2 per cent of female migrants were part of the ‘urban to urban’ migration stream, the report notes.

The report also classifies migrants based on whether they moved within a state or across states. Among rural male migrants, 62.5 per cent migrated within the same state whereas 33.7 per cent migrated from another state. Among rural female migrants, the numbers were 95.8 per cent for migration within the state and four per cent for migration from another state.

Among male migrants in urban areas, around 67.9 per cent had migrated within the same state whereas 29.9 per cent had migrated from another state. The report also notes that, as many as 84.7 per cent female migrants in urban areas had migrated within the same state and 14.9 per cent had moved across states.

In rural regions, temporary visitors from urban areas (66.2 per cent) outnumbered those from rural areas (32.4 per cent). On the other hand, in urban regions, urban temporary visitors (69.4 per cent) were more in number than temporary visitors from rural areas (27.9 per cent).

Focus and Factoids by Kanak Rajadhyaksha.