Is Replacement Migration a Viable Solution to the Aging Population of Kerala, India? A Critical Assessment.

Arun Perumbilavil Anand , Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Kerala, one of the states in India is undergoing the phenomenon of demographic transition since the 1970s. The 2011 Census revealed that the proportion of 60+ in the state constitutes about 12.6% of the population as against 8.6% of India. Currently, the state is undergoing replacement migration whereby the shortage of labor is met by migrant laborers and studies estimate their numbers to be around 10% of the state’s population. In this scenario, the paper intends to unfurl the reasons for the emergence of the phenomena and also tries to unveil its consequences on different domains of the state. The study observes that the continuous influx of migrants has already started creating turbulences in different spheres of Kerala and concludes by noting that replacement migration can be considered only as a short-term measure and also, observes that the increasing diversity of the population may endanger the social cohesion.

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 Presented in Session 6. Health & Mortality & Aging