ABSTRACT

This chapter presents several commonly used measures of migration and simple methods of estimating migration flows. The most common census migration indicator shows the place of birth of individuals enumerated in each region, district, city, or other census geographical unit. There are two general purposes for analyzing migration and urbanization. The first is to make projections about future population distributions. The second purpose is to assess the impact of proposed interventions on population movements. Surveys are an important source of information on migration. Though few contain enough data to identify all major migration flows, they can provide an excellent perspective on specific aspects. Census data are readily available and often the most appropriate for analysis of migration and urbanization. Population registration systems in developing countries include the official registration of births, deaths, and marriages. Population registration systems gather, on a continuing basis, certain types of vital statistics.