Differentials and determinants of Indigenous population mobility

Abstract:

Of the three components of demographic change, geographic mobility is the most nebulous and difficult to measure, and yet it is the one with potentially the greatest impact on population distribution and composition. Difficulties of measurement arise because a variety of definitions of population movement can be construed, all of which constitute arbitrary functions of the distance and length of time involved in relocating from one place to another. Impacts on distribution arise because migrant numbers in and out of a given place could exceed births and deaths, especially in small geographic areas and at higher stages of demographic transition, while age and sex selectivity of migration places a wide ranging effect on the composition of migrant sending-and-receiving regions.