Metropolitan Out-migration in England and Wales, 1980-81

A Poisson regression approach is used to model the out-migration from metropolitan districts in England and Wales down the urban hierarchy using flow data extracted from the 1981 British Census. Particular attention is focused upon the counter-urbanisation debate and an original classification of districts is used to examine the extent to which migrants originating in metropolitan origins choose peripheral destinations. The study also distinguishes between origins and destinations in the north and south of England and Wales. It is shown that the extent of population decentralisation from metropolitan districts varies considerably between inner and outer metropolitan areas, that migration down the urban hierarchy is an important feature of population redistribution and that flows into the periphery are primarily a southern phenomenon emanating principally from outer London.