Migration of early middle-aged population between core rural areas to fast economically growing areas in Finland in 2004-2007

Matti Saari, Statistics Finland

The internal migration rates of towns have been biggest in age groups from 25 to 34 in recent years in Finland and they have been almost as high as migration rates of 15-24 year-olds of the countryside. However, persons around the age of 30 have moved most actively to the rural areas proper within rural areas (Nivalainen 2008). Because migration to rural areas has not been studied very little, especially by age group, this study set out to investigate regional factors connected with the rural internal migration flows of the population aged 30 to 39. In the first decade of the 2000s, economic growth has been faster in rural areas than in urban areas (Saari 2010). Rural areas have often received growth impulses which have increased local and other production, as well as the demand of labour there. This is connected with the fact that the migration of the population aged 30 to 39 from urban to rural areas has been clearly livelier than in the peak years of the 1990s. However, the development in rural areas has been polarised in the past few years (Aro 2007). The aim of the study is to examine the out-migration tendency among the 30 to 34-year-old population in the core rural areas with poorest growth to other rural areas and the connected regional factors in 2004-2007. Thus, the study uses the regional push and pull theory. The variables used for both in and out-migration areas are areal socio-economic variables.