Jordan Journal of Economic Sciences, Volume 5, No. 1 2018 -67- 1 Scientific Officer, Social Sciences Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan.  saqib_2985@live.com 2 Professor, Agriculture Economics Department, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea. Received on 14/11/2016 and Accepted for Publication on 23/2/2017. © 2018 DAR Publishers/The University of Jordan. All Rights Reserved. The Factors of Migration in Northern Mountain Region of Pakistan (A Case Study of Tehsil Murree, District Rawalpindi) Saqib Shakeel Abbasi 1 , Tae Kyun Kim 2 ABSTRACT This study was conducted in Tehsil Murree area of Rawalpindi District. Data was collected from around 450 participants in order to assess the factors of migration from the area. Descriptive analysis of the results showed that agriculture is not the primary source of income for the people of Murree area and they have shifted to off farm activities. The results showed 23.07% of the people have already migrated from the Tehsil. The Logit model was used, both to estimate the impact of the independent variables on declining agriculture due to increasing migration in the area and to predict probabilities of changes in migration pattern. The analysis in the study area establishes the fact that migration in Tehsil Murree is due to many factors that includes age, education, family members, number of children, education in the area, land area and percent contribution of agriculture in total income. The study has shown that ignorance from farming system and out migration from the area, are altering the natural environment leading to the disappearance of natural habitat, flora and fauna which has critical implications on rural livelihoods. Keywords: Mountain Agriculture, Tehsil Murree, Murree Migration. INTRODUCTION In Pakistan, rural to urban migration is increasing faster as compared to past. The process of migration especially internal migration in Pakistan is an old phenomenon (Perveen, 1993). It not only provides opportunities for employment but also improves the socio-economic condition of migrant households (Arif, 2005).The migration is even higher in the mountain parts of the country due to limited level of livelihood opportunities and lack of facilities as compared to plain areas. Maximum resources are contributed to facilitate the urban community. Therefore, because of the government’s lack of attention towards addressing the rural issues and better employment and living conditions in urban areas people are shifting towards the cities. Migration of a household member to seek employment provides an alternative route to reduce risk through income diversification (Stark and Bloom, 1985, Taylor, 1999) and improve their livelihoods (De Haas, 2007). The ‘migration as adaptation’ could be considered as a subset of the ‘migration and development’ discourse, and is conceptually grounded on the merging of the New Economics of Labour Migration (Stark and Levhari, 1982) and Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (Scoones, 1998). Any potential benefit from migration needs to be weighed against potential costs (e.g. social costs, unrealistic expectations, poor standard of living, and low wages or substandard working conditions in destination) (Foresight, 2011). Within the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) approach, the decision to migrate is made at the