Causes of Rural-Urban Migration in Iran:A Meta-Analysis of Theses (During 1980-2004)

This study reviews causes of rural-urban migration drawing upon existing migration theories including particularly those of E. Lee, and Lewis-Fei-Ranis, as well as dependence theory. Theses on the same discussion, using meta-analysis method, presented in Tehran university, are studied to provide experimental support to the theories. In a comprehensive perspective, the causes of rural-urban migration may be identified in four aspects: economic, socio-cultural, demographic, and natural-agricultural. The economic aspect takes the first place in significance, while the socio-cultural, natural-agricultural, and demographic aspects gain other degrees of impact respectively. Given a categorization of push/pull factors as well as subordinate/personal factors for each aspect, however, the rural pushing factor reveals to be the most effective factor in the rural-urban migration, followed by the other factorsـــ ie urban pull factors, personal, and subordinate ones, respectively. Most of the rural push factors are due to the economic aspect, while the natural-agricultural and socio-cultural aspects are placed in the lower ranks.