Lifetime Internal Migration Intensity in Croatia

Ivan Cipin , University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business
Sanja Klempic Bogadi, Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Croatia
Petra Medimurec, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business

This paper investigates internal population mobility in Croatia. In the absence of cohort data on internal migration, the application of life table methods offers a way of estimating lifetime population mobility. The outcome is migration expectancy, the average number of moves an individual may expect to make during his or her lifetime. The data used to calculate migration expectancy in this paper are census-based and refer to people who moved to or within Croatia between April 1st 2010 and March 31st 2011. In line with the paper’s hypothesis, our results lead to several conclusions. First, women in Croatia are somewhat more mobile than men are. This finding holds even after considering sex-specific mortality differentials. Second, migration expectancy declines progressively with age. However, the distribution of internal mobility follows an uneven shape. Unsurprisingly, internal mobility is concentrated in young adult ages, which is also confirmed by the estimates of model migration schedules. Internal migration intensity peaks in people’s twenties. Third, internal population mobility in Croatia is comparatively very low, and this may be attributable to housing adjustment behaviour, social and economic conditions. One should bear in mind that migration expectancy is based on cross-sectional data, so it shows the experience of a synthetic cohort. It therefore merely represents averages that may conceal substantial variations in mobility conduct. Nonetheless, migration expectancy is easily understood and very practical because it enables a thorough examination of internal mobility timing. As such, it contributes to existing knowledge on internal population mobility in Croatia.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy