Living Standard and Economic Status: A Comparative Study between Migrants and Non-Migrants in Kerala

Kerala is known for migration even in the early 1980s. Kerala‘s economic and social imbalances leads to migration in general and high literacy rates, better education and lack of professional and skilled jobs had prompted Keralites to look for higher wages and skilled jobs outside Kerala or outside India. Kerala migration is decreasing both internal as well as international migration. Among that international migration is continuously decreasing but it was positive whereas internal migration almost reached negative trend. Non-migrant households and international migrants mainly belong to the prioritized categories. Among internal migrants most of them belong to non-prioritized groups. Most of the non-migrants, international and internal migrants belong to the range of family size of 0-5. Most of the non-migrants and internal migrants mainly belong to the religion of Hindu whereas international migrants from Kerala mainly belong to the religion of Muslim. Most of the non-migrants belong to the good houses. Among the migrants international migrants own very good houses than internal migrants. The cost of construction of house above five lakhs is higher among international migrants than any other groups. More non-migrants than migrants own land. Among the migrants international migrants are better own land as compared to internal migrants. Non-migrants are mainly from Ernakulum district, international migrants are mainly from Malappuram district and internal migrants are mainly from Alappuzha district and most of the non-migrants , international and internal migrants belong to medium living standard. All the economic variables such as consumption expenditure, monthly income, saving, investment, and debt is higher among migrants as compared to non-migrants.