Abstract

The impact of internal migration on the population distribution between different areas in Malawi cannot be overemphasized. At present, Malawi has one of the highest urbanization rate in the world resulting in, among other things, high unemployment levels in the urban areas and pressure on public service provision. In other areas, high population densities have led to scarcity of farming land. Most of the studies and research work on migration in Malawi have emphasized on the socio-economic impacts of international migration. The present study aimed to analyze the factors that determine internal labour migration choices by considering the role of the household as a single economic agent. The focus of the study was the case of household heads since it is the case in most African countries that a member of the household, mostly the household head migrates first and is either joined by the rest of the family at a later stage or just remits back to the family. A two-staged estimation approach was adopted. Firstly, the decision of whether to migrate or not was considered, following the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) approach and using a probit model. Secondly, the forms of migration that took place (rural-rural, rural-urban or urban-rural) were considered by looking at the individual characteristics of the household head and using a multinomial logit framework. The study showed that individual characteristics such as age, education level, marital status and employment status of the household head; and household characteristics such as the household size, land holding and community variables mostly access to public amenities are some of the variables associated with migration decisions.

More details

School	: School of Education
Issued Date	: 2007

Download full document