Migration, the Unrest, and Gender in the Three Southernmost Provinces of Thailand

Aree Jampaklay, Mahidol University
Kathleen Ford, University of Michigan
Aphichat Chamratrithirong, Mahidol University

Although migration of Muslims from the southernmost provinces of Thailand, especially to Malaysia, has a long history, research suggests that the intensity has increased in the past 10 years along with increased unrest in the provinces. The overall objective of the analysis is to understand how migration in the three southernmost provinces is associated with the on-going unrest. The analysis is based on a quantitative household probability survey (n=1,102) conducted in 2014. Results from the analysis at household level show that households in villages where the violence due to the unrest occurred in the past month and households that reported the unrest affected their overall life a lot were more likely to have at least one current migrant among the household members. These effects are direct, net of other household characteristics. Findings indicate that the unrest accelerates migration and supports the threshold theory that only high level of violence will lead to migration.