Patterns and flows of internal migration at the Great Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica, in the period 1995-2000

Abstract

The most recent patterns of internal migration in several Latin--American countries, pointed to the growing intrametropolitan flows from urban centers to peripheral areas, associated with urban residential processes in the rural areas next to metropolitan zone. This paper analyze this phenomenon in Costa Rica, estimating the patterns of internal migration within the Great Metropolitan Area (Gran Area Metropolitana - GAM), and trying to determine some push and pull factors that possibly explain these patterns, using a Poisson model to discriminate between a selected variables on a multivariate regression. The results confirm some tendencies observed in other metropolitan areas of Latin America, and give some explanations to the specific case of GAM.