How often do Australians move?

Abstract

Conventional census-based measures of population mobility are conceptually abstruse, ignore multiple moves and obscure the diversity of human migration experience. This paper explores three alternatives and outlines their strengths and limitations. Application of life table techniques to convert transition rates to migration expectancies generates measures that are more readily understood, automatically standardizes for age and enables the timing of mobility to be analysed methodically. Data on movement frequencies and residence duration provide new perspectives indicating substantial chronic mobility and significant differences between frequent movers and long term stayers. A number of simple summary statistics are proposed to supplement transition rates.