Migrants and Jobs | 29 Jul 2019
The 2011 Census data show that much of the migration to the big cities is intra-State rather than inter-State.
- The Census data shows that nearly 40 percent of Delhi’s 2011 population comprised individuals born outside the city, proving that the Capital is a migrant magnet.
- In comparison, less than 10 percent of the people in Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata were born outside the respective States.
- Mumbai’s share of the migrant population was less than 30 per cent, Bengaluru’s just a little over 17 per cent and Pune’s just over 10 per cent.
- In the National Capital Region (NCR), Gurugram has about 36 percent of people born outside Haryana.
- In contrast, in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district, where NCR’s Noida and Greater Noida are located, just about 18 percent of the population was born outside Uttar Pradesh.
The Census data also shows that inter-State migration to the big cities often tends to be intra-regional, mostly driven by migrants’ desire to be close to home.
- For instance, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have a greater proportion of migrants from the South than from the North.
- Likewise, a significant share of Kolkata’s migrant population is from Bihar and Jharkhand.
- However, there are some exceptions. Large outflows from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan to big cities have led to a sizeable presence of people from these three States in almost all the major cities.