In 2012-23, Kerala posted fourth highest in-migrant arrival growth

Last year, intra-state passengers constituted 69.26% of total arrivals in the state
As per the 2011 Census, Kerala enumerated 1.78 crore in-migrants and was in 11th position with a 3.91% share of total migrants.
As per the 2011 Census, Kerala enumerated 1.78 crore in-migrants and was in 11th position with a 3.91% share of total migrants.
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala is among the states where in-migration saw a decadal rise, contrary to the national trend of slowing domestic migration, according to a report from the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The state was fourth in terms of increase in migrant arrivals.

According to the report, the overall number of migrants in the country, as of 2023, was 40,20 crore. This was down nearly 11.8% from the 45.57 crore enumerated in the 2011 Census. Consequently, the migration rate dropped from 37.64% to 28.88% of the population over the same period.

These were some of the findings of ‘400 Million Dreams!’ the EAC-PM working paper authored by Bibek Debroy, former chairman of the council, and Devi Prasad Misra, its serving director. It harnessed three high-frequency and granular data sets -- the Indian Railways’ unreserved ticketing system (UTS) data on passenger volumes, TRAI’s mobile phone subscriber roaming data and district-level banking data. The report attributed the drop in migration to improved services such as education, health, infrastructure and connectivity as well as improved economic opportunities.

UP received most migrants

Based on UTS-II Class non-suburban (over 150 km) passenger data, the report said that Uttar Pradesh received the largest share of migrants (including intra-state migrants) in 2023, 12.68% of total passengers. The other states in the top five were Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

At 2.89%, Kerala was in 14th position. This was unchanged from 2012, when the state received 2.55% of total passengers. Kerala was in fourth position among states which posted the most growth in passenger / migrant arrivals. Between 2012 and 2023, West Bengal reported the highest increase of 2.33 percentage points (pp). It was followed by Rajasthan (1.02 pp), Karnataka (0.52 pp) and Kerala (0.34 pp).

According to the report, the percentage share of states in the railways data closely corresponds to the 2011 Census data in most cases. As per the 2011 Census, Kerala enumerated 1.78 crore in-migrants and was in 11th position with a 3.91% share of total migrants.

Intra-state pax dominate

In 2023, intra-state passengers constituted 69.26% of total arrivals in Kerala. This was followed by arrivals from Tamil Nadu (15.28%), Karnataka (7.92%), West Bengal (1.44%), Andhra Pradesh (0.87%), Maharashtra (0.69%) and Odisha (0.66%).

Intra-state passengers constituted 69.55% of total departures. Major destination states were Tamil Nadu (15.12%), Karnataka (7.11%), West Bengal (2.01%), Andhra Pradesh (1.07%), Odisha (0.71%) and Maharashtra (0.63%).

The authors said the method used by them gives a general idea of migration trends. “However we eagerly await the decennial census to check the accuracy of our findings,” they added.

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