ABSTRACT
The Tamil Nadu Migration Survey (TMS) 2015 is the first comprehensive survey conducted in Tamil Nadu to examine the demographic, social and economic characteristics of emigrants, return migrants, out-migrants and return out-migrants, remittances received, cost of migration and problems faced by them during their stay abroad. This is based on the large-scale survey canvassed among 20,000 households covering 32 districts of Tamil Nadu through stratified random sampling. According to the TMS, the estimated number of emigrants from Tamil Nadu living in any part of the world are 2.2 million, of which about 50 per cent of them live in the Gulf region (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman). However, a higher number of emigrants was found in Singapore, with 18.6 per cent. The average expenses incurred by a Tamil migrant is Rs 108,112, and about 48.3 per cent of emigrants used their personal savings for financing migration. The total remittances to Tamil Nadu in 2015 was about Rs 61,843 crore, which is equivalent to 14.5 per cent of the state income.
