Migration and Urbanization in Ethiopia: Addressing the Spatial Imbalance

Abstract

We assess the levels and trends of migration and urbanization in Ethiopia by focusing on migratory streams and the spatial distribution and growth of urban centers. Data from the three national censuses and national labor force, vital registra-tion and migration surveys are used. Rural–rural and rural–urban migration declined but urban–urban migration increased during the period 1984–1999. We show that as a response to land shortages in rural Ethiopia, small towns and medium-sized cities are seeing unprecedented revival and economic renewal. Many small towns are registering faster growth rates than medium-sized towns, and both are witness-ing a much faster increase than Addis Ababa, which registered a relatively lower inter-censal growth rate (2%). We find that temporary migration is a very common demographic response to population-resource imbalance and is dominant in both rural–urban and urban–urban streams. Migrants (both temporary and permanent) with secondary school education form a substantial percentage in the urban–urban migration stream. Marriage and other family-linked causes show a strong relation with being female, of rural origin, and from the northern Amhara and Tigray regions. Our findings suggest that the 1993 National Population Policy objective calling for a reduction in rural–urban migrations needs to be revised so as to foster small and medium town developments and off-farm labor mobility.