Internal Migration

Very few studies have been conducted that truly permit explanation of internal migration and it repercussions on social and economic structure. It is clear however that a profound knowledge of the determinants and consequences of internal migration will be required as a basis for economic policy decisions that advance the goal of improving the level of living of the population. the basic supposition of most studies of the relationship of population and development is that socioeconomic development conditions demographic dynamics. The process of development in Mexico, which can be characterized by great heterogeneity, consequently produces great regional disparities. At the national level various studies have estimated the volume of internal migration in Mexico, but they have usually been limited to interstate migration because the main source of data, the census, is classified by states. But given the great heterogeneity within states in all the elements related to internal migration, it is clear that studies of internal migration within states are also needed. Such studies are almost nonexistent because of their technical difficulty. National level studies show that interstate migration increased significantly between 1940-80. The proportion of Mexicans living outside their states of birth increased by 558% in those years, compared to the 342% increase in the total Mexican population. Although Puebla has a high rate of increase, migration has kept it below Mexico's national growth rate. Migration between Puebla and other states and within Puebla has led to an increasing unevenness of spatial distribution. Between 1970-80, 57 of Puebla's municipios had growth rates above the state average of 2.8%/year, 6 had growth rates equal to the average, and 129 had growth rates that were below the average but not negative. 25 states with negative growth rates that were considered strongly expulsive. In 1980, 51.7% of the population was concentrated in the 57 municipios considered to attract population and 44.4% was in the 129 weakly expulsive municipios. 2.4% of the population was in the strongly expulsive municipios. Census data from 1970 and 1980 indicate that 60% of Puebla's emigrants during the 1970s went to the Mexico City area, with a considerable proportion of the remainder going to the states of Mexico or Veracruz. It is likely that some of the faster growing. A 1987 migration survey in the city of Puebla indicated that 25% of the population was not native and that about 1/3 of the migrants were from elsewhere in the state of Puebla. About equal proportions of inmigrants to the city were of rural origin or from other cities.