Abstract:
The thesis aims to study the directions of return migration, characteristics
of return migrants and the demographic, social and economic factors influencing
return migration. The data were drawn from the National Migration Survey, 1992
conducted by the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University.
The sample were migrants aged between 15 and 44. The total numbers of
representative sample of 2,103 people includes 1,615 non-return migrants and 888
return migrants. Descriptive and multivariate statistics were employed to analyze
factors influencing return migration to the birthplace.
The finding reveals that the proportion of male to female return migrants is
similar. Most of the return migrants were aged between 15 and 24 years and had
primary educational level. More than half of the sample worked in agriculture and
had less than one year’s of residence outside their birthplace. The main stream of
migration was return migration from Bangkok to the Northeast.
Factors influencing return migration are age, education, direction of
migration, community ties and duration at destination. There is a tendency for
migrants to return to their birthplace when they get older. More highly educated
migrants are less likely to return to their birthplace than lower educated migrants.
There is a low tendency of return migration for those who migrate from rural areas
to other rural areas, while there is a high tendency of return migration for rural to
urban migrants. Moreover, people who have a close relationship with their
birthplace tend to return to their origin. Migrants who have a short duration living
in the destination tend to migrate back to their origin.
The finding indicates that the important factors affecting migrants return to
their birthplace are sex and social roles. For example, female migrants who always
have close relationship with their birthplace tend to return to their origin more than
male migrants. Therefore, there should be promotion of job distribution in rural
areas in order to decrease the emigration of young people to find jobs in both rural
areas and in the cities.