Sustainable Development and Migration in Iranian Frontier Counties

Abstract

The socio-economic changes of recent decades in Iran, accompanied by the lack of regional balance and over-concentration of facilities in some areas, have caused regional inequality in Iranian society and determined the direction of migration flows. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between four dimensions of sustainability (social, economic, physical-access and environmental) in the border counties of Iran and the net migration in these areas. This study used the data of general population and housing censuses, and other related findings to measure sustainability and net migration. The findings of this study show that the general status of social, economic and especially environmental indicators in Iranian border counties is not good. Also, most of the indicators – except for social – are in a poor condition in the southern counties, especially those in southeast, south, and southwest of Iran. The results also show that there is a significant relationship between economic sustainability and migration. In general, southeastern, western and southwestern border regions of Iran have poor conditions in terms of both sustainable development indicators and negative migration rate.