Internal Migration in Poland: a Spatial Interaction Model Approach

Migration is a complex phenomenon which involves the relocation of individuals between geographical locations and effects population distributions. People may change locations for a variety of reasons. Potential important factors in a migration process can be linked to economic variables (e.g GDP per capita), to labour market variables (e.g levels of employment), to environmental variables (embracing physical, economic and political aspects) and to public policy variables (as migrations incentives and migration policy). Explaining and predicting migration patterns can provide valuable insights for national and regional governments in improving their policies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role played by the standard socioeconomic variables as determinants of internal migration in Poland by use of the statistical framework of spatial interaction models.