They Came and Went. An Exploratory Journey into the Mathematics of Return Migration

Adrien Remund, University of Geneva

In this article, I apply the principles of formal demography to a little-studied aspect of migration, return migration. I exploit certain similarities with mortality settings to propose some key indicators such as out-migration rates and proportion of stayers. These indicators are applied to the case of 19th-century Geneva, and prove to be especially useful to highlight alternative time strategies of migrants, as well as long term trends of migration duration. I conclude that migration studies, and particularly migration history, would profit from the adoption of such measures by a larger audience.