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Migration in India: who moved, and why?
Compare rural, urban, male and female migration estimates from PLFS 2020–21, keeping the stock measure and reason-for-moving denominator explicit.
National Statistics Office, MoSPI / PIB · Source checked 2026-10-14
A migrant in this survey is a household member whose last usual place of residence differed from the present place of enumeration. Usual residence uses a six-month stay or intention-to-stay convention. It describes a history of residence, not the number of people who moved during one year.
Read migration rates over all persons separately from reasons reported by migrants. The much higher female migration rate and the predominance of marriage among female migrants are survey aggregates, not conclusions about an individual household or a direct estimate of city inflow.
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| Population group | Rural (%) | Urban (%) | India (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 5.9 | 22.5 | 10.7 |
| Female | 48 | 47.8 | 47.9 |
| All persons | 26.5 | 34.9 | 28.9 |
Unit: percent of the corresponding resident group. Population / universe: PLFS household members, by sex and rural/urban residence. Migration rate uses persons in the named category as its denominator.
Reference: July 2020–June 2021. Locator: Statement 1. Checked 2026-10-14.
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| Reason | Male migrants (%) | Female migrants (%) | All migrants (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seeking employment or better employment | 22.8 | 0.6 | 4.8 |
| Taking up employment, business, proximity to work or transfer | 20.1 | 0.7 | 4.4 |
| Job loss, unit closure or lack of opportunities | 6.7 | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| Parent or earning family member migrated | 17.5 | 7.3 | 9.2 |
| Studies | 4.7 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Marriage | 6.2 | 86.8 | 71.6 |
| Natural disaster | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Social or political problems | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Development-project displacement | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Health-related reasons | 2.5 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Own house or flat acquisition | 3.2 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Housing problems | 4.8 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Retirement | 1.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Other | 8.4 | 1.7 | 3 |
| All reasons | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Unit: percent of migrants in the corresponding group. Population / universe: Migrant household members, classified by reported reason. Column sums can vary from 100 due to source rounding. The all-reasons row is a total, not a further category.
Reference: July 2020–June 2021. Locator: Statement 4. Checked 2026-10-14.
Limits and interpretation
- The PLFS sampling design was not specifically focused on migration. Fieldwork during the pandemic had interruptions and delayed samples.
- Reason shares refer to migrants; they are not shares of all residents. Published rounding is retained.
- A migrant stock, an annual movement flow and a temporary visitor measure are different. These tables cannot establish current migration into a particular district.
These tables are historical observations or survey-period estimates. They are not a live feed or a forecast. Keep the population group, unit and reference period with every reused figure.