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Net migration and migration effectiveness: A comparison between Australia and the United Kingdom, 1976–96 Part 1: Total migration patterns

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Abstract

A nation’s population is redistributed through migration flows and counterflows between its constituent subnational areas, resulting in a geographical pattern of net migration gains or losses which may change from one time period to another. Migration effectiveness is the indicator commonly used to measure net migration as a proportion of gross migration turnover for any territorial unit. This paper explores the effect of net migration in two different countries, Australia and the United Kingdom, using measures of migration effectiveness computed from period-age migration data sets for a system of city regions assembled for four consecutive five-year periods in each country. While the evidence suggests that the overall effectiveness of net migration has declined over the 20-year period in both countries, marked similarities and contrasts are apparent in the spatial patterning of migration that together provide useful analytical insights into the changing space economies of the two countries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, Leeds, United Kingdom

    John Stillwell

  2. University of Adelaide, Adelaide

    Martin Bell & Marcus Blake

  3. University of Leeds, Leeds

    Oliver Duke-Williams & Phil Rees

Authors
  1. John Stillwell
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  2. Martin Bell
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  3. Marcus Blake
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  4. Oliver Duke-Williams
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  5. Phil Rees
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Correspondence to John Stillwell.

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Stillwell, J., Bell, M., Blake, M. et al. Net migration and migration effectiveness: A comparison between Australia and the United Kingdom, 1976–96 Part 1: Total migration patterns. Journal of Population Research 17, 17–38 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03029446

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