Migration Age Patterns: Measurement and Analysis

Abstract

This paper develops support for three principal points. First, the profiles of age-specific gross migration rates all over the world have a fundamental regularity that can be captured and expressed in mathematical form. Second, this mathematical "model" schedule summarizes the empirical regularity in a way that permits analytical examinations to be carried out regarding the fundamental properties of the migration age profiles. Finally, migration rate schedules may be conveniently decomposed to illuminate the influences on migration patterns of migration level, the age composition of migrants, and the age composition of the population in the region of origin.