Paper short abstract:

This paper compares young adults´ migration behaviour in rural parts of Upper Austria and northern Thailand. Our data highlights the relationship between demographic change and rural communities between rural communities and urban study or working places.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, we compare young adults´ migration behaviour in rural parts of Upper Austria and northern Thailand. By choosing to compare rural migration in these different parts of the world, the authors challenge conventional understandings of rural "development" as processes pertaining to poor regions in the global South. Instead, their comparison highlights that within a context of global restructuring, rural "development" occurs both in richer and poorer parts of the world. Thus based on qualitative and quantitative data sets, case studies in this paper highlight the relationship between demographic change and young men and women´s migratory behaviour between their rural communities and urban study or working places. Data analysis reveals the rationale underlying young adults´ migration out of and back to their rural communities, drawing particular attention to the perceived benefits and deficits associated with life in rural communities as well as rural peoples` ideas of how to improve rural communities so as to encourage younger generations to live and work there. Emerging migration patterns are flexible and shaped by political economic structures as well as subjective emotions. This comparative research builds upon and contributes to theoretical discussions in the fields of International Development, Migration Studies and Planning.