Who Are Movers? Comparison of Socio-Economic Characteristics of Immigrants, Emigrants and Native population in Iranian Districts

Migration, its volume, and characteristics have many implications to population and development plans. In effect, studies comparing characteristics of comers with goers and both with stayers, which can reveal both the origin and destination’s gains and losts via migration, are not many! This is what the present paper is going to examine.
This paper utilizes a 2 percent sample of all population enumerated in 2006 Iranian National Population and Housing Census. Preliminary findings show that around 17 percent of the country’s population has changed its place of residence during 1996-2006. Among 336 districts of the country, net migration rates (percentages) ranges from -17 to 34, Immigration rates from around 1 to over 57, and Emigration rates from .4 to 44 percent. A very compounding picture is appears when the characteristics of immigrants comparing to emigrants are taken into consideration at district level. According to the development level, less developed districts are great losers (where immigrants are less educated and are from lower SES groups comparing to Emigrants), and developed districts are great gainers (where immigrants are more educated and are from higher SES groups comparing to Emigrants).