Answering the Research Challenge on Family Migration in the Developing Country: The Case of Indonesia

Salahudin S. Muhidin, Université de Montréal

While research on migration has been extensive, there have been little studies focused on family migration in developing countries. In fact, family has been mainly considered both the causes and effects of migration. The paucity of data is often mentioned as one of the challenges in this research. Using Indonesia as a case study, this paper attempts to demonstrate that the family migration research can be done by using both common available data (e.g. census) and special collected data (e.g. IFLS, Indonesia Family Life Survey). Once the two data sets are available, therefore, the limitation findings from one data set can be supported by the findings from another data set. In the case of Indonesia, the study shows that family migration has changed over time in relation with the changes in the family (including its size and structures) as a result of the modernization process and enhancement in economic opportunities.