Migration from rural areas: the evidence from village studies

This study is part of a wider analysis of village conditions. in the developing world, carried out by the Village Studies. Programme (VSP) at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex University, Brighton. The present work, financed by a research grant from the International Labour Office (ILO), represents the first attempt to bring together and interpret the evidence on migration available from numerous village studies carried out in all areas of the Third World. We have attempted to show the wide variety of migration patterns and situations which occur in these rural areas, and in so doing to bring out the major socio-economic conditions which encour age or discourage patterns of high emigration, and to suggest some of the consequences for the rural communities concerned. This evidence has been supplemented by our own detailed stat istical analysis of data from some forty Indian village studies We hope that this fresh approach will not only provide more information for researchers working in this and similar fields,
but also generate new insights into, and suggest new approaches. for the further study of, the migration process. This study was financed mainly by the ILO through its World Employment Programme. At an earlier stage, funds were provided by the UK Social Science Research Council to help us gather and sift material, and by the UK Overseas Development Ministry for much of the demographic analysis. We gratefully acknowledge the generous financial assistance of these organizations.

We are also indebted to numerous individuals. Mick Moore, of VSP, has made two specific contributions, in Chapters 1 and 2, but has also provided constant useful help and stimulus, as has Brian Mitchell of VSP. We are very grateful to Dr. H. Lubell of ILO and Dr. R.N. Sinha of FAO, and at the Institute of Development Studies to Dr. Manfred Bienefeld, Prof. Harold Brookfield, Robert Cassen, Prof. Emanuel de Kadt, Dr. Martin Godfrey, John Oxenham, Dr. Oded Stark and Dr. Robert Wade for valuable comments on early drafts. As ever, the deficiencies that remain in the study are the sole responsibility of the authors.