Life cycle, household structure and migration at the beginning of the 21st century: the case of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region

Abstract

Internal migration has been changing considerably in recent decades in Brazil. Nowadays, large metropolises are the main areas of articulation of the population’s spatial mobility in the territory, given the volume of individuals that go to them and, at the same time, depart from them. The objective of this article is to analyze characteristics of the internal migrants who went to the São Paulo Metropolitan Region based on data from the 2010 Demographic Census. The results show a strong relationship between life cycle, household structure and socio-demographic attributes of migrants. We believe that the region’s advanced level of urbanization has led to the exacerbation of migratory selectivity in relation to the migrants’ individual attributes and support networks, configuring their residence patterns at their destination.