Migration and Rural Sustainability: Relative Poverty Alleviation by Geographical Mobility in China

Abstract

Migration is an important way for rural labourers to break the uneven distribution of resources, earn more income and seek their own sustainable development. However, existing studies have focused more on rural–urban migration and less on geographical migration. Our study further enriches the existing research on poverty reduction and provides a theoretical reference for policy decisions to promote a balanced regional development. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2012–2020, we conduct benchmark estimates through linear probability models and estimate the impact of migration on the relative poverty of the rural labourer through binary probit models. The results show that migration could significantly reduce the likelihood of a relatively poor state of rural labourers by around 4%; the greater the distance of migration, the greater the effects; and migration of rural labourers in the central region has the largest and most significant relative poverty reduction effect. Furthermore, migration could also compensate for the disadvantages of rural labourers who are unemployed, less educated and in poor health, making them less likely to be relatively poor. We also use multiple linear models to examine whether migration has a significant income-boosting effect on the rural people and found a positive result in which the effect reaches its highest in the central region at 22.95%. Therefore, it is necessary to further break down the barriers to geographical migration of rural labourers, strengthen the public transportation system and pay greater attention to Central China in order to better promote balanced development among regions.