View source for FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH RURAL OUT-MIGRATION A HOUSEHOLD LEVEL STUDY IN KANGLUNG GEWOG TRASHIGANG BHUTAN

JAMYANG CHODA<br />
MA DEMOGRAPHY (MAY 2011)<br />
Population Institute


Internal migration in Bhutan is increasing rapidly and today it accounts for the highest internal migration rate in South Asia. The 2005 Population and Housing of Bhutan revealed that the Trashigang district located eastern part of Bhutan has the highest number of out-migrants. Trashigang district has 15 gewogs and among those, Kanglung gewog accounted for the highest number of out-migrants. This study examines the household level factors of rural-out migration from Kanglung gewog. Primary data was collected from the 215 households in Kanglung during the month of May 2010. The 215 households are divided into two categories, namely households with recent out-migrants and households without recent out-migrants. Three household factors (demographic, socio-economic and social network variables) are used as explanatory variables in this study.

The study found that a higher proportion of households in the higher socio-economic status or richer households have higher proportions with recent out-migrants compared to households with medium or poor socio-economic status. Similarly, a higher proportion with recent out-migrants compared to households that do not have relatives in urban areas. Households with recent out-migrants have a larger number of male and female members in ages 15-59 compared to households without recent out-migrants. 
The parsimonious logistic regression model predicting the odds of a household having recent out-migrants shows that a household in poor socio-economic status is less likely to be a recent out-migrant household compared to a household in higher socio-economic status (rich) controlling for other variables and demographic factors. A household that has higher number of male and female household members age 15-59 is more likely to be a recent out-migrant household compared to a household that has a fewer number of male and female household members age 15-59 controlling for other variables in the model. Lastly, a household that has relatives in urban areas is more likely to be a recent out-migrant household compared to a household with no relatives in urban areas controlling for other variables in the model. The variables that did not come out significant in the logistic regression are landholding of the household, literacy of the household head and sex of the household head.

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