Mobile no more? The innovative use of administrative data linked to a census-based longitudinal study to investigate migration within Scotland

Abstract

This paper builds upon existing scholarship on changing patterns and processes of internal migration, especially the surprising recently documented trend towards falling internal migration intensities since the late 20th century in many developed countries. The analysis is based on new research opportunities presented by the recent linking of administrative health data into the census‐based Scottish Longitudinal Study and points to a modest recent decrease in aggregate rates of address changing within Scotland. This decline is partly driven by the population subgroups that have been conventionally most mobile, especially over longer distances, becoming less migratory. This supports the notion of an evening out of some of the main socio‐economic determinants of migration and validates calls for a greater emphasis on the drivers and consequences of population immobility within migration studies.