Emigration and urban exclusion in Burkina Faso: a longitudinal study (1970-1999)

Cris Beauchemin, INED

The paper aims at studying the determinants of urban out-migration (i.e. migration from cities to villages) in Burkina Faso. The hypothesis is that urban out-migration is conceived by individuals as a strategy to face urban exclusion (defined as a lack of access to urban resources such as employment or housing). This hypothesis relies on recent observations, in sub-Saharan Africa, according to which 1) urban integration is more and more difficult for migrants as well as for non-migrants and 2) urban out-migration becomes more and more important in a context of economic hardship and increasing urban poverty. The study is based on a national survey on migration conducted in 2000 on a sample of about 9 000 individuals aged 15-64. Using this dataset, event history analysis allows us to test the influence of the lack of access to employment or autonomous housing on the odds of leaving cities.