Driving Factors of Asian International Migration Flows

Abstract

Migration from, to and within Asia are believed to capture many of the largest flows in the world yet very little is known about the specific patterns and factors contributing to them. In this paper, utilising recent estimates of five-year bilateral migration flows for all countries in the world, we focus on understanding how demographic, geographic and socio-economic factors are related to the size of bilateral flows in Asia. We conduct our analysis in three strands to differentiate migration: (1) amongst Asian countries, (2) from Asian countries to destinations outside the region, and (3) towards Asian countries from elsewhere in the world. After controlling for demographic, geographic and socio-economic variables, we find that large countries are important senders of migrants but not so for receiving migrants, distance has nearly the same effect for moves within Asia and for moves to countries outside the region, and Gross Domestic Product per capita in the destination is important for moves within Asia.