Back to the Countryside: Rural Development and the Spatial Patterns of Population Migration in Zhejiang, China

This study examines how rural development in China shapes new trends in population migration. Using first-hand, village-level data from Zhejiang—an economically developed province in China—we investigated the patterns and influencing factors of population migration between rural and urban areas. We conceptualized three types of migration in rural areas: rural out-migration, rural in-migration, and rural return-migration. First-hand data were collected from 347 villages. The results show that although rural out-migration remains the dominant form of migration, rural in-migration and return-migration are also common, and the latter two are positively correlated. Further, we found evidence to support the conclusion that rural economic, social, and spatial development encourages rural in-migration and return-migration but does not have a significant impact on rural out-migration. Therefore, it is foreseeable that rural in-migration and return-migration will become increasingly common in China.