Period and Cohort Measures of Migration

Martin Kolk, Stockholm University

Migration is seldom analyzed from a cohort perspective, unlike mortality and fertility. In this study I introduce the rarely used total migration rate for both period and cohort migration data. I show how the application of such standard demographic fertility measures can give important insights into the dynamics of migration, and why they should be incorporated to the tool kit of migration researchers. I show examples on cohort and period total migration rates using Swedish administrative register data from 1968-2012 for the complete Swedish born population, examining various age ranges. I examine a variety of thresholds for migration, showing results for both internal migration and emigration. I finally present age-specific migration rates by both period and cohort.