The impact of migration on fertility : a case study of transmigrants in Lampung, Indonesia

Abstract

Since the beginning of this century various governments in Indonesia have looked to the 'outer islands' as the solution to the problem of over-population on Java, an island which covers only seven percent of the total land area but contains nearly two-thirds of the country's population. To date, the emphasis in program execution has been primarily on the sending areas of transmigrants (chapter 2). Recent data, however, indicate that greater emphasis must be given to the receiving areas. The province of Lampung located at the southern tip of Sumatra, has the longest history of resettlement, and until recently has been the most important receiving area for transmigrants. Lampung has been shown by the last three, i.e. 1961, 1971, and 1980, censuses to have had the highest intercensal average annual rate of population growth among all provinces in Indonesia. Moreover, migrant women in Lampung, mostly originating from Java, have been found to have had higher fertility than their counterparts who remained in rural Java. This dissertation attempts to bring to light the factors which caused higher fertility among women who migrated to Way Abung, North Lampung, and Punggur, Central Lampung, as compared to that of the stayers in rural Java. From among a wide variety of studies on the relation between migration and fertility the framework of analysis developed by Hendershot (1970 and 1976), which attempts to examine the consequences of migration on fertility in terms of selection and adaptation processes, has been selected as the basis of this study (chapters 1 and 3). Set against the background of individual and household characteristics (chapter 4), fertility levels and patterns of transmigrant women in Lampung are examined and related to those of the stayers in rural Java (chapter 5). Explanations of fertility differences are sought in terms of demographic and social indicators of fertility, including patterns of marriage (chapter 6), child mortality (chapter 7), family planning (chapter 8), and education (chapter 9). In addition, the impact of changing environmental conditions on fertility, with specific reference to economic forces, is examined (chapter 10). The higher fertility experienced by transmigrants relative to the stayers is partly attributed to selection but more so to adaptation processes for there are indications that transmigrant women raised their fertility after resettlement. Due to the similarity of the studied groups of women, their demographic and social characteristics failed to explain the observed fertility differences. There is also suggestive evidence that different economic forces from those found on Java operate in the transmigrant areas, and that these may have induced the transmigrant women to raise their fertility after resettlement. Show more