Internal migration in the time of Covid: Who moves out of the inner city of Stockholm and where do they go?

After the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the media abounded with stories of people ‘fleeing city‐centres' and ‘finding refuge in the countryside'. A recurrent argument is that the shift towards remote work has prompted individuals to reconsider their living situation and envisage the possibility of relocating further away from their workplace. The aim of this study is to examine the patterns of out‐migration from the Stockholm inner city during the COVID‐19 pandemic, as well as the characteristics of out‐migrants. We use Swedish register data to compare the trends for the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic (2020) and the 5 years preceding it (2015–2019). Our study shows that, similar to other large cities across the world, individuals moved out of the inner city of Stockholm to a higher degree in 2020 than during the years preceding the pandemic. The majority of movers relocated to the Stockholm suburbs, which experienced a substantial increase in inflows from the Stockholm inner city. Yet a number of smaller municipalities, including traditional tourist destinations, also received more residents from the Stockholm inner city in 2020. Although it remains to be seen whether the increase in out‐migration from the Stockholm inner city observed in 2020 will be a long‐term trend, the paper discusses the policy implications of inner city out‐migration, from the perspective of both the sending and the receiving locations.

Virtual special issue: Internal migration in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has potentially altered the system of population movement around the world. As COVID-19 hit cities the hardest in the wake of the pandemic, apocalyptic headlines anticipated the ‘death of cities'. Yet, little was known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cities and the ways it has shaped the patterns of internal population movement in and out of cities. This virtual special issue aims to consolidate our knowledge of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on internal migration, discuss key lessons we have learnt so far, and identify areas for future enquiry. It brings together evidence from six different countries: Australia, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, covering the pandemic in varying temporal lengths. Systematic patterns emerge. A first commonality is an overall reduction of internal migration rates during the early days of the pandemic but to a lesser degree than expected. Second, the impacts of COVID-19 leading to out-migration from cities seem to have been temporary, though evidence from Spain and Britain points to scarring effects with persistent losses in highly dense areas. Third, changes in internal migration generated small impacts on the population structure of cities but large-scale changes in small, rural and low-density areas. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Internal migration in the time of Covid: Who moves out of the inner city of Stockholm and where do they go?

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media abounded with stories of people 'fleeing city-centres' and 'finding refuge in the countryside'. A recurrent argument is that the shift towards remote work has prompted individuals to reconsider their living situation and envisage the possibility of relocating further away from their workplace. The aim of this study is to examine the patterns of out-migration from the Stockholm inner city during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the characteristics of out-migrants. We use Swedish register data to compare the trends for the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) and the 5 years preceding it (2015-2019). Our study shows that, similar to other large cities across the world, individuals moved out of the inner city of Stockholm to a higher degree in 2020 than during the years preceding the pandemic. The majority of movers relocated to the Stockholm suburbs, which experienced a substantial increase in inflows from the Stockholm inner city. Yet a number of smaller municipalities, including traditional tourist destinations, also received more residents from the Stockholm inner city in 2020. Although it remains to be seen whether the increase in out-migration from the Stockholm inner city observed in 2020 will be a long-term trend, the paper discusses the policy implications of inner city out-migration, from the perspective of both the sending and the receiving locations.

Did the pandemic bring new features to counter-urbanisation? Evidence from Estonia.

This paper aims to shed new light on changes in counter-urbanisation over the past three decades. A specific focus will be placed on new features of domestic migration to non-metropolitan rural areas which have become apparent during the global coronavirus pandemic. We focus on the intensity, origins, and destinations of counter-urban moves, and on the individual characteristics of counter-urban movers. Based on a case study of Estonia, our main findings show, firstly, that urbanisation has been the predominant migration trend across the past thirty years, with the main destination of domestic migrants being the capital city and its urban region. Secondly, we find that counter-urban moves have gained importance over time and especially during the periods of economic bust. The most important new features of counter-urbanisation during the pandemic relate to the increased migration of families with children and people who have high-income occupations to non-metropolitan rural areas. These new features of domestic migration could serve to slow down or even reverse the long-term problem of population aging in the countryside and the loss of educated people there.

Editorial introduction: counter-urbanisation in contemporary Australia: a review of current issues and events

'Counter-urbanisation' has attracted international attention for decades, as an elusive concept that runs against the overwhelming trend of an urbanising world. In Australia, interest in counter-urbanisation waned after the peak interest from the 1970s until the early 2000s, however a recent resurgence of interest has grown due to anecdotal evidence of rising migration out of major cities. Advances in the ability to telecommute, the impacts of COVID-19 and lockdowns in major cities, and the impact of climate change on migration movements are some contemporary changes prompting the need for a renewed critical and theoretical analysis of counter-urbanisation. This editorial introduces the special issue that offers renewed insights to counter-urbanisation in Australia. We present three arguments to ground the elusive concept of 'counter-urbanisation' that underpins this special issue. We argue (1) that the contemporary examples of counter-urbanisation we are witnessing presently in Australia involve migration from major cities to regional spaces;(2) counter-urbanisation is determined by geographical context, in this case Australia and places within, and (3) Australian counter-urban movements are strongly linked to amenity and lifestyle migration. This editorial then introduces the special issue papers which together define and challenge the concept of counter-urbanisation within the Australian context.