RuRal-uRban migRation and Urbanization in bhutan © 2018 National Statistics Bureau of Bhutan All rights reserved. Printed in Bhutan. ISBN 978-99936-28-78-1 Photo Credit: Tashi Dorjee, Ulli Cokl, Tashi Wangchuk National Statistics Bureau Royal Government of Bhutan PO Box No 338 Thimphu, Bhutan Tel: +975 2 333296, +975 2 335848 Fax: +975 2 323069 www.nsb.gov.bt ii RuRal-uRban migRation and uRbanization in bhutan CONTENTS FOREWORD ....................................................................................................................................................... v ACKNowLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF TaBLES ............................................................................................................................................. VII LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF ANNEX TaBLES ............................................................................................................................... IX ABBREVATIONS ................................................................................................................................................ X CHAPTER 1 INTrodUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Project backgrounds and report objectives .................................................................................... 1 1.2 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 General approach ........................................................................................................................ 2 1.2.2 Population and Housing Census ............................................................................................... 2 1.2.3 Qualitative survey ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.2.4 Concepts and definitions ........................................................................................................... 4 1.2.5 Structure of the report ............................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2 MIGraTION IN BHUTAN ......................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 7 2.2 Internal migration ................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2.1 Lifetime internal migration ......................................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Recent internal migration ........................................................................................................... 9 2.3 International migration ...................................................................................................................... 10 2.3.1 Immigration ................................................................................................................................. 10 2.3.2 Emigration ................................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 3 RECENT INTERNAL MIGraTION ........................................................................................ 19 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Geographic patterns of recent internal migration ........................................................................ 19 3.2.1 Migration at gewog and town level ......................................................................................... 19 3.2.2 Migration at dzongkhag level .................................................................................................. 21 3.2.3 Migration at region level ........................................................................................................... 23 3.3 Migration between rural and urban areas ...................................................................................... 24 3.4 Recent internal migrants – who are they? ...................................................................................... 26 3.4.1 Demographic profiles ................................................................................................................ 26 3.4.2 Socio-economic profiles ........................................................................................................... 30 3.5 Reasons for recent internal migration ............................................................................................. 38 3.5.1 Reasons for recent internal migration by migration direction ........................................... 38 3.5.2 Age- and sex-specific reasons for recent internal migration ............................................ 38 CHAPTER 4 UrBANIZATION IN BHUTAN ................................................................................................ 43 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 43 4.2 Inter-census Urbanization trends .................................................................................................... 44 4.3 Bhutan’s urban morphology ............................................................................................................. 46 4.3.1 Urban localities by class size ................................................................................................... 46 4.4 Urban and rural profiles .................................................................................................................... 49 4.4.1 Demographic profiles ................................................................................................................ 49 4.4.2 Socio-economic profiles ........................................................................................................... 50 RuRal-uRban migRation and uRbanization in bhutan iii 4.5 Urban locality size and migration characteristics ........................................................................ 55 4.5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 55 4.5.2 Migrant and non-migrant compositions ............................................................................... 56 4.5.3 Socio-economic profiles .......................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER 5 QUALITATIVE SURVEY RESULTS ....................................................................................... 63 5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 63 5.2 Study findings ...................................................................................................................................... 67 5.2.1 Migrant profiles .......................................................................................................................... 67 5.2.2 Reasons for moving and staying ............................................................................................. 68 5.2.3 Impact of migration ................................................................................................................... 71 5.2.4 Return migration to rural areas ............................................................................................... 76 5.2.5 Dealing with out-migration ...................................................................................................... 77 CHAPTER 6 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ..................................................................................................... 81 6.1 Background and methodology ......................................................................................................... 81 6.2 Setting the scene ................................................................................................................................. 81 6.2.1 Internal migration ...................................................................................................................... 82 6.2.2 International migration ............................................................................................................. 82 6.2.3 Rural-urban migration in perspective .................................................................................... 82 6.3 Recent migration ................................................................................................................................. 83 6.3.1 Geographic patterns ................................................................................................................. 83 6.3.2 Migrant profiles .........................................................................................................................