NSO to launch year-long nationwide migration survey from July 2026
The National Statistics Office will roll out a comprehensive migration survey from July 2026 to June 2027 to capture patterns, drivers, and labour profiles of migrants across India
 "NSO to launch year-long nationwide migration survey from July 2026")
The National Statistics Office (NSO) will launch a comprehensive survey to generate up-to-date estimates on the scale and patterns of migration across the country, including rural–urban and inter-state movements, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) informed the Parliament on Monday.
The Survey on Migration will be conducted for the period between July 2026 and June 2027.
It will capture reasons for migration, return and seasonal migration, as well as employment profiles of migrants. The results will be instrumental in understanding labour mobility and remittance flows, according to the ministry.
“Such information will greatly benefit policymakers, planners, researchers, and development practitioners by enabling more targeted interventions in areas such as urban planning, housing, transportation, employment generation, social security and skill development,” the statistics ministry said in a statement.
Mospi said that the most recent data on migration was collected through the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2020–21 and the Multiple Indicator Survey (2020–21). According to July 2020-June 2021 PLFS, India’s overall migration rate during the period was estimated at 28.9 per cent.
The PLFS data underlines sharp gender differences in migration patterns, the ministry noted.
At the all-India level, the migration rate in 2020–21 stood at 10.7 per cent among males and 47.9 per cent among females. For women, marriage was the dominant driver, accounting for about 86.8 per cent of all female migrants, while among men, search for employment or better employment formed the single largest reason at 22.8 per cent.
“These distinct patterns highlight the gender-specific nature of migration in India, with female migration largely influenced by social factors such as marriage, and male migration primarily shaped by labour market opportunities,” noted the ministry.