Urban Migration

Posted 04 Sep 2025

Updated 09 Sep 2025

5 min read

Article Summary

Research highlights rural-to-urban migration shaping city life, driven by economic, social, and environmental factors, impacting growth, demographics, and requiring policy reforms.

Why in the News?

Recent research by IIT Indore highlights how rural-to-urban migration is reshaping daily life in cities, with shifts in work, routines, and living conditions drawing attention to the broader challenges faced by urban migrants.

The below infographic define circular Migration.

What is Migration?

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) defines Migration as the movement of people away from their usual place of residence to a new place of residence, either across an international border or within a state.
Migrants in India
- The population census of India defines a migrant based on the Place of Birth (POB) and the Place of Last Residence (PoLR)
  - According to the place of birth criteria, if a person's place of birth differs from the place of enumeration, then at the place of enumeration, the person will be considered a migrant.
  - If a person's place of last residence differs from the place of enumeration, then at the place of enumeration, the person will be considered a migrant.

Status of Migration in India

Urban Migration: According to Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, At the all-India level, 18.9% is rural to urban, and 15.9% is urban to urban, making up approximately 35% of total migration.
- By 2030, more than 40% of India's population is expected to live in urban areas (Economic Survey 2023-24).
- Rural to rural migration at 55% is the highest, and urban to rural migration at 10% is the lowest.
Share of Migrants: Migrants account for 28.88% (40.20 crore) of the population (2023), down from 37.64% (2011) (400 Million Dreams! report).
- According to the Census 2011, 45.57 crore people are migrants.
- Five states Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal account for about 48% of outbound migrants, while Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu receive a similar share of inbound migrants.
- Incoming migration is rising fastest in West Bengal, Rajasthan and Karnataka but declining in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. (Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

Factors Driving Urban Migration

According to the Census 2011, the reasons for rural to urban migration were:
- Marriage (29%).
- Moved with household (26%).
- Work (24%).
- Moved after birth (5.5%).
- Education (2%).
- Other reasons (12%).
There are two sets of factors that influence migration

	Push Factors (Reasons to Leave Origin)	Pull Factors (Reasons to Choose Destination)
Social & Political	Persecution (ethnicity, religion, race, politics, culture). War, armed conflict, human rights violations, political instability.	Peace, stability, security of life and property. Liberal asylum policies in safer countries.
Demographic & Economic	High unemployment, poor labour standards. Economic decline, lack of opportunities, low wages. Higher wages, better jobs, higher living standards.	Educational opportunities and better healthcare. Young labour demand in aging societies.
Environmental & Climate	Natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes). Climate change impacts (droughts, rising seas, extreme weather).	Pleasant climate, safer environmental conditions

Consequences of Urban Migration

Economic Consequences
- Economic Growth: Skilled migrants boost development, with seasonal and temporary migrants contributing about 10% to national GDP (United Nations Development Programme).
- Improved Living Standards: Remittances raise living standards through housing, land, education and business.
- Economic Vulnerabilities: Concentration in the informal sector, low wages, lack of access to social security are persisting challenges for the migrants.
  - Example: Nearly 90% of India's workforce is in the informal sector, employing most migrant workers.
  - Example: Covid-19 caused a homeward exodus of around 11.4 million migrants in India.
Demographic Consequences
- Population Structure: Migration alters population balance, skewing sex ratios and reducing rural birth rates.
  - Example: Kottayam's sex ratio (1040) is lower than Kerala's average (1084) due to female outmigration.
Social & Psychological Consequences
- Social Change: Migrants bring new ideas, technology, and consumerist culture, modernising origin areas.
- Social Challenges: It includes discrimination based on caste, religion, and regional origin, Language barriers, Formation of ghettos, etc.
  - Example: 2008 attacks on migrants in Maharashtra.
- Housing and Infrastructure Strain: For e.g., Pune has 564 slums with an estimated 30-40% of its population.

Government Initiatives for Migrant workers

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana: It aims to achieve Universal Health Coverage by providing health coverage to India's most vulnerable including migrant workers.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY): It provides free food grains and direct cash transfers to families below the poverty line, including migrant workers.
One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme: Launched in 2018, ensures food security through the portability of ration cards across India.
e-Shram Portal: Creates a national database of unorganised workers, integrates welfare schemes, and enables easy access to social security benefits.
PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi): It aims to provide collateral-free working capital loans to street vendors.
Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Yojana (PMSYM): It aims to provide a minimum assured pension to workers in the unorganized sector, including migrant workers, upon reaching the age of 60.

Way Forward

Working Group on Migration (2015) recommendations
- Legal and Policy Framework:
  - Enact legal safeguards to protect migrants' constitutional rights.
  - Amend Registrar General's protocols for caste-based enumeration of migrants.
- Anti-Discrimination Measures: Eliminate domicile requirements for jobs and services to uphold freedom of movement and residence.
- Providing Access to Basic Entitlements such as including migrant children in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Annual Work Plans.
- Financial Inclusion: Reduce cost of money remittances using India Post's network to prevent informal transfers.
Expanding Best Practices: The Kerala Migration Survey model, conducted every five years since 1998, should be expanded nationwide to strengthen migration governance and policy responses.