In News:
- Newly released census data for 2011 shows that more than 5.6 crore Indians lived in states other than the ones they were born in.
News Summary:
- UP is the state that sees the most migration, both in and out, with over 40 lakh in-migrants and almost 1.3 crore out-migrants.
Out-migration:
- Out-migration is when the people of a state move to other states.
- UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and MP had the highest ‘out-migration’.
In-migration:

- In-migration is when the people of other states move into the state.
- Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat saw the largest ‘in-migration’.
- Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had more in-migration than out-migration.
- Among larger states, Bihar had the lowest number of people migrating into the state, with most of the 10 lakh plus migrants coming from Jharkhand and UP.
In-migration mostly into the metro cities:
- For example, the 40 lakh in-migrants into UP could mostly be due to people from all of India moving to the NCR cities of Noida and Ghaziabad.
- In Haryana too, Gurgaon and Faridabad could account for a sizeable chunk of the 37 lakh in-migrants.
Eastward Migration from Bihar:
- Contrary to the popular perception of Bihari people moving in large numbers to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi or Mumbai, migrants from Bihar moved more towards the east.
- People born in Bihar constituted 62% of migrants in Jharkhand, 47% in West Bengal, 31% in Assam and other north-eastern states compared to just 18% in Delhi and 6% in Maharashtra.
High outmigration from AP and Tamil Nadu:
- Contrary to the perception that states with a high level of development have lesser outmigration than people inmigration, more people left Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh than Bengal or Assam.