People’s tendency to migrate to villages from cities increased during the coronavirus pandemic. The tendency is still prevailing even after the end of the pandemic. Rather, the tendency is gradually increasing further every year for socioeconomic reasons.
According to the figures of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the number of people who migrated to villages has doubled within just two years. In 2001, some six persons in every 1000 had moved to villages. The number increased to 14 in 2023.
These migration-related figures came up in the Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2023 report published by the BBS. The BBS conducted a survey on some 308,032 families to prepare the report.
The number of people migrating to villages has increased, and the number of people moving to cities from villages has dropped. According to the BBS, the number of people moving to cities from villages was 26.4 in every 1,000, which dropped to 20 in 2023.
The economists say people usually migrate from one place to another to earn money. Besides, the desire of having a better lifestyle and social issues like marriage are also key factors behind people migrating from one place to another.
BBS statistics show that around 14 people in every 1000 left cities for villages in 2023, which was 10.9 in 2022. As such, the number of people moving to villages from the cities has increased by 3 in just a year.
Experts feel that the tendency of migrating to villages from cities also has increased due to the development in the communication system of the country. The communication between Dhaka and the districts adjacent to it has improved a lot. As a result, a certain part of the low-income people is leaving cities for villages. Many are sending back their families to villages to cope with the pressure of increasing living costs in the capital.
Experts say people’s living cost is quite higher than their income nowadays. In addition, job opportunities have become restricted in many cases. Therefore, people are considering villages as a safer place. At the same time, the number of people migrating to cities from villages has also dropped.
Speaking regarding this, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) executive director Fahmida Khatun told Prothom Alo people’s income has not increased that much as compared to the additional living costs nowadays. So people are heading towards the villages to cope with the extra living cost. The government’s social safety net programmes should be expanded further to handle the situation.
Fahmida Khatun further said, not enough jobs have been created in urban areas in the last few years; Rather, there have been layoffs in many formal and informal sectors. It is prolonging the economic pressure on the low income people. As a result, those who were a little above the poverty line are dropping below the poverty line again. It is being reflected in the rise of people’s tendency to move to villages.
Number of people leaving the country is on the rise
According to the stats of BBS, the number of people returning to the village was 3.9 and 0.7 respectively in 2018 and 2019. It rose to 8.4 following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The tendency to move to villages dropped a little in 2021. However, it started rising again from 2022, which continued even in the last year.
The BBS survey shows that in terms of internal migration, only the number of people moving to villages from cities have increased. The figures of other types of internal migration haven’t increased that much. Rather, it declined in many cases.
For instance, the number of people migrating from one village to another village was 9.3 in every 1000 people, which dropped to 6.6 in 2023. Similarly, the number of people moving from one city to another was 38.4 in every 1000 people, which declined to 23.8 last year.
The number of people leaving in the country or the number of international migrants has also increased. In 2022, the number of international migrants was 6.61 in every 1000 people, which rose to 8.78 last year.
*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu