Motivation of Return Migration to Saqez City: Urban Repulsions or Rural Attractions

Returning to the origin of immigration or staying at the destination are two options that have been ingrained in the minds of immigrants since the beginning of migration. The purpose of this article is to investigate the rural attractions and urban repulsions related to the motivation of return migration and to recognize the importance of each in the formation of the motivation of return migration. For this purpose mixed method was used and the data collection tools were interviews and questionnaires. The statistical population of this study comprised of people aged 20 to 65, resided in neighborhoods of Baharestan Pa'in, Baharestan Bala, and Tazehabad in Saqez. The findings of the qualitative part were used to gain a deeper understanding of the study context and to develop a questionnaire. In the quantitative part, the variables of education, urban relations network, rural relations network, domestic attachment and rural facilities showed a positive relationship with the return motivation, while the variables of age and number of children did not have a significant relationship with the return motivation. Finally, in multiple regression analysis, it was found that the motivation to return is more a reflection of rural attraction than urban repulsion and underlying characteristics of migrants.