Migration from Kerala could start decreasing by 2015: study

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — The number of Kerala migrants abroad has increased from 2.19 million in 2008 to 2.28 million in 2011 but the increase could vanish much before 2015 and the migration trend could very well slope downwards, according to a federally funded study.

In 2003, when the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) embarked on the series of studies on the pattern of migration, the number of emigrants was just 1.36 million which showed a steady trend upwards.

Household remittances

also doubled to Rs 151.29 billion from Rs 79.65 billion in 2003.

The number of Kerala migrants who returned and living in Kerala in 2011 is estimated to be 1.15 million as against 1.16 million in 2008, 0.89 million in 2003 and 0.74 million in 1998.

Migrants and returnees together numbered 3.43 million in 2011, 3.35 million in 2008, 2.73 million in 2003 and 2.10 million in 1998.

Of 100 households, there are 29 emigrants and 14.7 return emigrants.

Interestingly, Malappuram district, which has the lowest per capital income sends highest number of migrants. Nearly 82 per cent of the households did not have an emigrant member.

This is the first Kerala Migration Survey being conducted with 15,000 household samples co-ordinated by the CDS directly employing 60 field enumerators, 14 supervisors and a co-ordinator and led by professors K C Zachariah and S Irudaya Rajan.

As in the past, the vast majority of the migrants from Kerala in 2011 were Muslims (about 45 per cent), although their share in the total population was only about 26.5 per cent.

The Hindu emigrants were only 37.5 per cent of the total, although their share in the total population is about 56.8 per cent.