Migration as a geographical indicator of social change in Etelä-Pohjanmaa, Finland

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the regional differences in migration as well as the migratory currents in the Finnish‑speaking parts of Etelä­-Pohjanmaa (South Finnish Bothnia). Material was collected in every village and hamlet, and it includes all the migrants of the period 1950–1964. The study also deals with the migratory connections with other parts of Finland as well as with emigration.

The study relates to a time when the rural population of certain of the communes in the study area had begun to decrease, as reckoned in absolute numbers. This aspect of the urbanization process is examined in the light of the migratory movements. The centrality of urban agglomerations as based upon net migratory currents is described in terms of numerical data. The demarcation of the migratory areas is carried out likewise on the basis of the net migratory currents. The results obtained cast additional light also on the hierarchical system of functional centres and spheres of influence. As the birth and death rates generally change quite slowly, migration is the most telling factor influencing the regional distribution of the population. Migration acts as a mediatory mechanism in the cumulative development of economic activity and in the process of urbanization. In this social change, small central places, too, have their own important function, for they also attract migratory currents from sparsely settled rural areas.

In the final portion of this paper, the relation of migration to certain demographic and socio-economic factors is examined by regions. The purpose is not to test the causal connections between variables but to describe in simple terms a certain group of variables. Villages and (hamlets) and communes are divided into different classes according to their level of development. The migratory balance of regions is determined on the basis of the relative numbers of migrants moving into and out of them. The net migratory currents between different areas are related to the differences in development between them. Some particular factor may play a central role on the village or communal level and yet be of only slight significance in the frame of reference of long‑distance internal migration or of emigration.