Climatic change and rural–urban migration: The case of sub-Saharan Africa
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Previous literature has found that climatic changes increase rural-to-urban migration.
“Importantly, this finding contrasts previous literature which has found that climatic changes increase rural-to-urban migration (Ahsan et al., 2011; Barrios et al., 2006; Nawrotzki et al., 2017).”
From Environmental shocks and migration among a climate-vulnerable population in Bangladesh (2025) · cites this paper as Barrios et al., 2006
Section V (Econometric Results) reports that decreases in rainfall encouraged migration to urban areas. The paper limits this finding to sub-Saharan Africa; its concluding passage says there was no evidence of the same effect elsewhere in the developing world. The citing sentence omits that geographic qualification. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Quantifying the influence of climate on human conflict
Hsiang, S. M., Burke, M., & Miguel, E. (2013) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1235367 · Cited by 1,827 · see citing works
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“At present, there is some evidence that implicates climatic events as inducing the migration of rural populations to urban centers (Barrios et al. 2006; Feng et al. 2010, 2012; Marchiori et al. 2012; Bohra-Mishra et al. 2014), although there is as yet limited work linking these patterns to the…”
BackgroundClimate, conflict and forced migration
Abel, G. J., Brottrager, M., Crespo Cuaresma, J., & Muttarak, R. (2019) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.12.003 · Cited by 564 · see citing works
“Rainfall deficits suppress US-bound migration from rural Mexico according to some studies (Hunter et al., 2013; Nawrotzki et al., 2015) but increase migration according to others (Barrios Puente et al., 2016).”
BackgroundEnvironmental dimensions of migration
Hunter, L. M., Luna, J. K., & Norton, R. M. (2015) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112223 · Cited by 449 · see citing works
“These efforts, as well as the closing or opening of political borders, have resulted in new patterns of movement in response to environmental change (Barrios et al. 2006, Gila et al. 2011, Marino 2012, Sporton et al. 1999).”
BackgroundThe impact of weather anomalies on migration in sub-Saharan Africa
Marchiori, L., Maystadt, J.-F., & Schumacher, I. (2012) · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2012.02.001 · Cited by 442 · see citing works
“Moreover, Barrios et al. (2006) stress that rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa remained constant during the first part of the 20th century until the 1950s, peaking in the late 1950s and being on a cleardownward trend since that peak.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialA meta-analysis of country-level studies on environmental change and migration
Hoffmann, R., Dimitrova, A., Muttarak, R., Crespo Cuaresma, J., & Peisker, J. (2020) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/s41558-020-0898-6 · Cited by 362 · see citing works
“International migration Paper Naude 2009 (ref.”
Climate variability and international migration: The importance of the agricultural linkage
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“Using unbalanced panel data, Barrios et al. (2006) found that rainfall affects rural-to-urban migration in sub-Saharan Africa.”
BackgroundThe influence of climate variability on internal migration flows in South Africa
Mastrorillo, M., Licker, R., Bohra-Mishra, P., Fagiolo, G., D. Estes, L., & Oppenheimer, M. (2016) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.014 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
“This is particularly true for African countries, where rural–urban migration accounts for roughly half of the extraordinary trends in urbanization growth between the 1960s and 1990s (Barrios et al., 2006).”
Global environmental change and noncommunicable disease risks
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“Migration may also be captured indirectly, such as in a study by Barrios, Bertinelli, and Strobl (2006) which compares 36 sub-Saharan African countries using urbanisation as a proxy indicator for internal migration.”
Hoffmann, R., Šedová, B., & Vinke, K. (2021) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102367 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Climate variability and migration in the Philippines
Bohra-Mishra, P., Oppenheimer, M., Cai, R., Feng, S., & Licker, R. (2017) · Population and Environment · doi:10.1007/s11111-016-0263-x · Cited by 137 · see citing works
“Among a number of studies investigating the link between rainfall and internal migration, reduced rainfall is linked to increased migration to urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa (Barrios et al. 2006); an increase in internal migration within Tanzania (Afifi et al.”
BackgroundClimate Change, Migration, and Civil Strife.
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“Importantly, this dynamic is often reflected in rural-urban migration (Barrios et al. 2006; Mberu 2005) because metropolitan areas tend to offer employment in more diverse and less climate-sensitive labor markets, not to mention higher wages.”
BackgroundEnvironmental migrants and social-movement participation
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“Such a framework has been equally adopted by related studies on the issue of environmental migration such as Barrios, Bertinelli, and Strobl (2006), Naude (2010), or Beine and Parsons (in press).”
BackgroundClimate change as a veiled driver of migration in Bangladesh and Ghana
Fernández, S., Arce, G., García-Alaminos, Á., Cazcarro, I., & Arto, I. (2024) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171210 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Environmental shocks and migration among a climate-vulnerable population in Bangladesh
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Migration as an adaptation strategy to weather variability
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- Authors
- Barrios, S., Bertinelli, L., & Strobl, E.
- Affiliations
- European Commission (BE)
- University of Luxembourg (LU)
- École Polytechnique (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Bertinelli, Luisito
- Venue
- Journal of Urban Economics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-11
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 357-371
- ISSN
- 0094-1190 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3121894697
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 23
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.aeefi.com
- Locations
- Journal of Urban Economics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DIAL (Catholic University of Leuven) (submittedVersion)
- Digital Access to Libraries (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), l'Université de Namur (UNamur) and the Université Saint-Louis (USL-B)) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Luxembourg) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
- Social Sciences › Demography › Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis
- Keywords
- climate change, rural-urban migration, urbanization, rainfall, sub-Saharan Africa, developing countries, decolonization, internal migration
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