NEW DELHI: The number of domestic migrants have lowered by nearly 12% to 40.20 crore between 2011 and 2023, indicating increased economic opportunities across the country, said a report by prime minister’s economic advisory panel EAC-PM.
As per a paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), the number of domestic migrants stood at 40,20,90,396 in 2023, which was 11.78% lower than the figure registered as per Census 2011. The paper titled ‘400 Million Dreams! Examining volume and directions of domestic migration in India using novel high frequency data’, said as per Census 2011, the total number of migrants stood at 45,57,87,621.
“Overall domestic migration in India is slowing. We estimate the overall number of migrants in the country, as of 2023, to be 40,20,90,396. This is about 11.78% lower as compared to the number of migrants enumerated as per Census 2011 (45,57,87,621),” it said.
Consequently, the paper said, the migration rate which stood at 37.64% of total population as per Census 2011, is estimated to have reduced to 28.88%.
“We hypothesise that this is on account of availability of improved services such as education, health, infrastructure and connectivity as well as improved economic opportunities in or near in major sources of migration and is an indicator of overall economic growth,” noted the paper said.