INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN KERALAINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN KERALA

Dr S IRUDAYA RAJANChair Professor

CDS, Kerala

• Total Population of Kerala: 31 million

• Until 1956 (Kerala came into existence from 1st November 1956), Kerala was an in-migrating state

• From 1961, Kerala is an out-migrating state, even today

• Kerala is ahead of India in terms of fertility, infant mortality and literacy

• As Keralites were ahead of literacy than other parts of the country, most of the literates migrated to other parts of India where there is a demand of educated (teachers, nurses, accountants and other services)

• As long as, they were accustomed to mobility within India, when the oil boom begun in Gulf, they were the first to emigrate to Gulf.

• In India, we have good statistics on inter-state migration based on census and the data on international migration is only a guesstimate.

• To study the Impact on International migration on Kerala’s economy and society, we have undertaken three major surveys in Kerala

• Kerala Migration Survey, 1998 (10000 households)

• Kerala Migration Survey, 2003 (10000)• Kerala Migration Survey, 2007 (Progress)• Kerala Migration Survey, 2008 (Proposed)

Kerala Migration Survey 2003

• Number of emigrants (EMI)

• 199913.6 lakhs

• 200418.4 lakhs 

Number of return emigrants (REM)

• 1999 7.4 Lakhs

• 20048.9 lakhs

• No of NRK: 27.3 lakhs

Migration Trend, 1982-2003

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

EMI REM NRK

Kerala Migration Survey, 2003

• % of households with/without migrantsWith Without

Emigrants Emigrants

• EMI 17.6 82.4

• REM 11.2 88.8

• NRK 25.8 74.2

Kerala Migration Survey, 2003

% of female emigrants: 17

• Malappuram 271,787

• Kannur 202,414

• Thrissur 178,867

• Palakkad 177,876

• Thiruvananthapuram 168,046

• Kozhikode 167,436

Migrants Per 100 Households by Community

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0

SCST

Nair

Ezhawa

Brahamin

Other Hindus

Roman Catholics

Latin Catholics

Jacobite/Orthodox

Marthoma

CSI

Muslim

NRK/hh

Rem/hh

Emi/HH

0

20

40

60

80

100

Per

cent

age

Population Emigrants

Population of Kerala and Emigration by Religion 2004

Muslims

Christians

Hindus

Migrants per 100 Households

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Hindus Christians Muslims

Percen

tage

Emi

Rem

Nrk

Percent Increase in Migration, 1999-2004

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

Hindus Christians Muslims

Perc

ent I

ncre

ase Emi

Rem

Nrk

Perent of Households with at least one NRK, 2004

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0

Muslims

Marthoma

Latin Catholic

Orthodox/ Jacobite

IPC

CSI

Nair

Ezhawa

Roman Catholic

Other Hindus

Brahmins

SCST

Com

munity

Percent

Kerala Migration Survey, 2003

• Where do Malayalis go?Percent

• United Arab Emirates 37• Saudi Arabia 27• Gulf countries 89• United States of America 5• United Kingdom 1• Singapore 1

Worker’s Remittances

Rupees (In crores), 2003

• India (No 1 in the world) 82350

• Kerala (total remittances) 18465

• % of Kerala to total 22.4

• 25% of the state domestic product

Remittances in Crores

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

20000

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Worker’s Remittances

• Macro Economic Impact

• Remittances: 18465 crores

• Population in 2004: 32.5 million

• Each one gets Rs. 5678 per year or

• Rs 473 per month

• Sufficient to buy at least 1 kg of rice per day per person

Worker’s Remittances

• Importance of Remittances

• Remittances were 1.74 times the revenue receipts of the government

• 1.8 times than the Government of Kerala expenditure

• 7 times what Kerala receives from the central government

Worker’s Remittances

• Importance of Remittances

• 60% of Kerala government’s debt can be wiped out by remittances

• 15 times more than the export earning of the cashew products

• 18 times more than the export earnings of the marine products

Percent of Households Directly Beniftted From Remittances

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Hindus Christians Muslims

Perc

ent

of H

hs

Percent of houses that are luxurious or very good By Community

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Hindus Christians Muslims

Percen

tage

Expenditure on Education Per Household, by Migration Status and Religion

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

All NRK Non-NRK

Ru

pees

Hindus

Christians

Muslims

Expenditure per Household on Health, by Religion and Migration Status

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

All NRK Non-NRK

Rupees

Hindus

Christians

Muslims

Labour Market Issues

• Stagnation in agriculture (workers are not willing to work in agriculture)

• Increase in wages (about Rs. 200) in Kerala as against Rs.50 in Bihar

• Unemployment is very high (after deducting for internal and international migration

Unemployed Rate by Education 2004

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Illiterate

Literate

Primary Incomplete

Primary

Secondary Incomplete

Secondary

Degree

Migration and Development

• Positive effects

• Reduction in Poverty

• Reduction in unemployment

• Other effects

• Conflict between new rich and old rich

• Increase in income equality and conflicts

• Replacement Migration