An Overview of Internal & International Migration in Egypt

This paper makes use of a very rich new data set namely, the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS 06). Given the panel nature of the data, the paper examines internal migration rates over time and also the current and previous patterns of international migration in Egypt. The main findings are as follows. First, there is evidence to suggest that overall internal migration rates have increased recently. A common feature of this new pattern of migration is its short distance nature, that is, within the same governorate. Secondly, the evidence suggests that international migration has fallen yet its impact is still very visible in terms of the contribution of returnees and remittances.