Rural-to-urban and urban-to-rural return migration in Korea: Comparative analysis of social, economic, and demographic characteristics.

摘要

The purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of urban-to-rural return migration and to investigate the differences between onward and return migrants in Korea. Its guiding assumption is that urban-to-rural return migrants can be distinguished from onward migrants in terms of their individual characteristics, reasons for migration, and location-specific capital. The major objectives of this study were (a) to compare the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics between onward and return migrants and (b) to examine the determinants of urban-to-rural return migration.;Data for the study were obtained from a sample of 8,709 individuals surveyed in the 1983 Korean National Migration Survey. Research was carried out in two stages: basic descriptive analysis and discriminant analysis.;Major findings showed that return migration is selective with respect to age, education, occupation, and marital status, both at the time of initial movement from rural origin to urban areas and from urban residence for return migration to rural origin. The results of discriminant analysis supported the importance of migrant selectivity and (location-specific) capital as predictors of urban-to-rural return migration in Korea.