Residential clustering among Nang Rong migrants in urban settings of Thailand

Abstract

© 2007 Scalabrini Migration Center. This study examines the residential patterns of rural-urban migrants in Thailand. The analysis takes advantage of a rich dataset that followed migrants from rural Nang Rong, a district in the Isan region, to the Bangkok metropolitan area and the Eastern Seaboard. Findings document substantial residential clustering: almost half of the migrants interviewed in 2000 and 2001 lived in neighborhoods where 80 percent or more of their neighbors came from Isan. Migrants with less than a secondary education, those working in factory jobs, and those working with other migrants from Isan were more likely to be living in Isan-concentrated neighborhoods, net of other variables.