Salahudin Muhidin

Migration in Asia

Asia presents a unique setting for the study of human migration. Home to more than three-fifths of the world’s population and spanning almost a third of global land mass, Asia is host to diverse cultures, economies, political systems and settlement patterns. In tandem with national variations in population size and composition, these factors have led to marked variations in human spatial mobility across the region. This chapter draws on emerging data on international and internal migration to explore migration intensity and patterns of spatial redistribution both between and within Asian countries. The chapter begins by tracing patterns of international migration using data from the United Nations and The World Bank and identifies four distinct migration systems. Turning to internal migration, data from the IMAGE project (Bell et al. 2015a) are used to explore cross-national differences in the lifetime intensity and pattern of spatial redistribution within 16 Asian countries. Results reveal considerable diversity in international and internal migration, reflecting differences in levels of urbanisation, in the effect of government policies, and in stages of economic development.