Internal and International Mobilities in Colombia: Determinants, Migration Patterns and Diversity of Destinations, 1950-2010

Abstract

During the last two decades, South America has emerged as a region with a growing mobility and variety in the type of migratory flows. Colombia is an excellent example of the new dynamic: it has long had migration to the us, has participated in interregional flows, has experienced growing migration to Spain and, regarding the internal mobility, has observed changes in the distribution of its population related to the urbanization process and the political conflict. The goal of this paper is to analyze in depth the migration patterns of Colombians by destination using the retrospective data of the Latin American Migration Project (lamp). First, we analyze the changes and continuities in the internal and international migration flows in recent decades. Second, we present a descriptive analysis of the mobility patterns of Colombians by age, sex and national and international destinations. Finally, we estimate multivariate models to explore the link between socio-demographic variables and the different receiving destinations.