Visualising internal migration flows across local authorities in England and Wales

Abstract

Internal migration has significant impacts on the population structure, public services, economic and social development of local areas. In this research, we adopted the theory and methods of complex network analysis to visualise the internal migration flows across local authorities in England and Wales. The graphic prominently highlights two spatial and geographic characteristics of population mobility in England and Wales: a large proportion of internal migration is associated with clusters of neighbouring or nearby local authorities, and the most urban authorities, such as London and other major metropolitan cities, have net outward internal migration (i.e., more people moving out than in).