Open Access ISSN: 2151-6200
Arts and Social Sciences Journal
Review Article
Volume 12:1, 2021
Review on Determinants of Internal-Migration in Ethiopia
Abstract
Besides, the review made on determinants and causes of internal migration in the context of the country level were few. There were many studies conducted about the topic
despite lacking the consistency of determinants of internal migration in the country context. So that the aim of this review is tried to compile studies conducted in the different
part of the country to contribute knowledge and show the real image about the determinants of internal migration in Ethiopia. Optimistically, this review paper may be helpful
for government and development practitioners who work on migration of people (Like, IOM) through signifying in what issue they should intervene. For researchers, it may
give insight on how they should conduct research to fill the gaps of different studies and to make the community beneficial through generating timely information by their
investigation for making a decision.
Keywords: Internal migration • Labour migration •Migrant •Population •Geographical region •Environment
Ebrahim Endris and Andualem Kassegn
*
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia
*Address for Correspondence: Andualem Kassegn, Department of Agricultural
Economics, College of Agriculture, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia, Tel:
2510910146517; E-mail: andualemkassegn@gmail.com
Copyright: © 2021 Endris E. This is an open-access article distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author
and source are credited.
Received 05 January 2021; Accepted 20 January 2021; Published 27 January
2021
Introduction
Migration whether national or international has become an important
livelihood strategy among households in Ethiopia. This is because it provides
migrant households with transfers that are uncorrelated with agricultural
income. Now a day, in total, about 258 million people are living outside their
country of birth globally, with two-thirds living in G20 countries. Specifically,
in Ethiopia, migration is becoming the tough and challenging problem of
the country from time to time due to both push and pulls factors. However,
migration can have a positive result in improving livelihoods if exhaustive and
comprehensive approaches and systems are set up [1,2].
Internal migration streams inside Ethiopia are presently bigger than
international migration flows from Ethiopia [3]. The guesses that there are
as of now 300,000 Internally Displaced people groups (IDPs) in Ethiopia
contrasted with around 60,000 refugees that as of now live in different nations
[4]. Aside from the IDPs, the essential internal migration flows are rural-urban
migration and rural-rural migration. However, a similar report uncovered that a
significantly higher number of migrants, around 740 million, are occupied with
intra-relocation (moved inside their nations), primarily from rural to urban areas
or from one rural area to another.
This is mainly because the Ethiopian economy is predominantly depending
on rain-fed agriculture and the country has experienced political instability, war,
famine, economic hardship throughout its history and the economy. Internal
migration flows in Ethiopia in the course of the most recent couple of decades
have been driven by financial, climatic and political elements, including dry
spell, political strife, constrained movements and destitution [5,6].
Consequently, migration is an enticing option for additional income, which
is fundamental for interests in methods for production or even to sustain a
current living, mainly for economic reasons. The results of some studies
showed that intra-village conflict, absence of relief assistant, farmland size,
access to information, livestock ownership, and family and individual qualities
including family size, sex, and age of the transients are the prevailing
determinant factors for internal migration. For women and girls, there is proof
that early marriage and sexual maltreatment are drivers of migration [5-7].
Internal migration in Ethiopia happens as country urban relocation, rustic
provincial movement, and resettlement strategies, which are largely generous
in Ethiopia. Also, internal migration in Ethiopia has generally happened
at marriage when the spouse moves to live in the husband's community.
Among the types of internal migration rural-rural migration take the lion share
in Ethiopia both in 1999 and 2007 national household surveys [8]. The next
highest is rural-urban migration which accounts for 24.8 and 32.5% of the
overall migrants in the year 1999 and 2007, respectively.
The rapid rate of urbanization is primarily caused by poor rural living
conditions and persistent famine, forcing rural populations to migrate to cities
in search of alternative livelihoods” [9]. The burden of rural-urban migration
is more severe and challenging in less developing countries like Ethiopia
since migration rates are beyond job creation in the cities [10]. As indicated
by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, no endeavours have been
made by the Ethiopian government or universal associations to recognize
the determinant factors and gauge the quantity of inside uprooted individuals
(IDPs) [3].
Methodology
This review paper aimed to assess the key determinants and causes of
internal migration in Ethiopia and to suggest a possible solution to the identified
determinants and problems regarding the internal migration of Ethiopia.
Therefore, different published and unpublished secondary documents were
composed of diverse sources like research articles and reports. Accordingly,
all data relevant to this review were collected, interpreted and evaluated from
secondary data sources that have been written on internal migration and
related topics in Ethiopia. The decision to hold or discard a particular source
was made based on new, relevancy for the review topic. At last, all collected
data were examined and ended description and understanding qualitatively.
Discussions
Internal migration in Ethiopia
It is recognized that in many developing countries, internal migration from
rural areas to cities is set in motion at least in part by natural disasters, land
degradation, and desertification [11]. Internal migrants who move Poverty,
low agricultural incomes, low productivity, population growth, shortages,
fragmentation and inequitable distribution of land, environmental degradation,
and the relative lack of economic opportunities in rural areas are the deriving
factors to people move from rural areas to urban areas [12]. Internal migration
mostly composed of young adults and the poor constitute the main flow of
people in developing countries [13].
Internal migration is important almost everywhere and in some countries