Internal Migration Impact on Poverty in Egypt

Internal migration in Egypt has always been an important feature of the Egyptian demography. Based on recent estimates from the 2006 Census; more than 4 million of the total population of Egypt are migrants. In this study, the recent patterns of internal migration are investigated, the characteristics of the migrants are compared to that of their counterparts’ non-migrants, and their consequences on the individuals’ economic status are estimated. The study aimed at investigating the extent to which migration was a successful livelihood strategy to break away from poverty and to raise the standard of living. Furthermore, it seeks to define the determinants that condition the utilization of such strategy and their importance as well as identifying the demographic and socio-economic differentials of internal migration in Egypt and its linkages to the changes in poverty levels and distribution, over the study period. It made use of a very rich data set namely, Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS1998-2006) which enables us to examine the objectives of the study. ELMPS 06 is a follow-up survey to the ELMS 98.