Who and Why? Understanding Rural Out-Migration in Uganda
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Geographies
Abstract
Rural–urban migration in developing countries is considered to be a key process for
sustainable development in the coming decades. On the one hand, rural–urban migration can
contribute to the socioeconomic development of a country. On the other hand, it also leads to labor
transfer, brain-drain in rural areas, and overcrowded cities where planning is lagging behind. In
order to get a better insight into the mechanisms of rural–urban migration in developing countries,
this paper analyzes motivations for rural–urban migration from the perspective of rural households
in Uganda. A total of 1015 rural households located in southwestern Uganda were surveyed in
2019. A total of 48 percent of these households reported having at least one out-migrant. By
means of logistic regression modeling, the likelihood for rural out-migration was assessed using
household- and community-level socioeconomic characteristics as predictors. The results show that
most out-migrants are from relatively wealthy households with a higher-than-average education
level. Typically, these households are located in villages that are well connected with urban centers.
Poor households in remote locations send significantly fewer migrants because of their limited access
to migration information and poor transport networks. From these findings, the following policy
recommendations are made: Firstly, efforts should be made to extend basic social services, including
quality education, towards rural areas. Secondly, in order to reduce socially disruptive long-distance
migration and the eventual overcrowding and sprawls of major cities, government investments
should be oriented towards the upgrading of secondary towns, which can offer rural out-migrants
rewarding employment and business opportunities.
Description
Keywords
Rural out-migration, Spatial analysis, Logistic regression
Citation
Tumwesigye, S.; Hemerijckx, L.-M.; Opio, A.; Poesen, J.; Vanmaercke, M.; Twongyirwe, R.; Van Rompaey, A. Who and Why? Understanding Rural Out-Migration in Uganda. Geographies 2021, 1, 104–123. https://doi.org/10.3390/ geographies1020007