Income as a primary driver of South African inner city migration

Abstract

Drivers of migration to the inner areas of the five largest South African cities are investigated using computational modelling based on survey data. The primary migration driver for South African cities is established to be the need to find work but this is related to income in terms of salary distributions. These distributions vary for the different cities and fall into two groups, those with a normal distribution and those that peak in a very low income bracket. The link between these distributions and 'attractiveness to move to a city' is considered using a simple model.