A STUDY ON MIGRATION, DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION AND DEVELOPMENTAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN SRI LANKA’S MOBILITY LANDSCAPE

Abstract

This study critically examines the evolving migration patterns and associated demographic changes in Sri Lanka from the mid-1970s to the present, situating migration within broader political, economic, and social transformations. Drawing on census data, labour force surveys, remittance matrices, and district-level case studies, the analysis highlights how internal and international migration interact to reshape population structures, labour markets, and household dynamics. While existing scholarship has predominantly focused on labour migration and remittance flows, this study advances a more integrated perspective by examining education-related mobility, entrepreneurship, return migration, and their cumulative demographic impacts. Findings reveal that internal rural-urban migration often precedes international migration, creating layered mobility trajectories that challenge conventional analytical distinctions. Migration has contributed simultaneously to economic resilience, through remittances, skills acquisition, and transnational networks, and to structural vulnerabilities, including population ageing, labour shortages, altered gender roles, and caregiving deficits in origin communities. The demographic transition underway in Sri Lanka, marked by declining fertility and rising dependency ratios, is further intensified by the selective out-migration of working-age adults. Urbanisation pressures, housing shortages, and regional imbalances underscore the uneven spatial consequences of migration. The study argues that migration should be understood not merely as an economic coping strategy but as a structural force shaping long-term demographic resilience and social reproduction. A policy-relevant contribution of this research lies in its call for integrated migration governance that aligns labour markets, social protection, urban planning, and human-capital development to mitigate demographic risks while harnessing the developmental potential of mobility.