Factors Associated with Return Migration in Wa Municipal in the Upper West Region.

Abstract

Internal migration in Ghana has attracted a great deal of research attention and inspired by demographers and other social scientists. This is attributed to the implication that the movement can pose on the economy. People of the savannah regions of Ghana have had a long history of movement into other part of the country. Some of the reasons accounting for this phenomenon can be traced to different ecological zones in Ghana. As a result, people move from these areas into other part of the region in search of jobs. In certain part of the year especially in the dry seasons, movement of man-power labour from the savannah into other region increases. The Upper West Region has been the leader in net-migration in Ghana according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census and Wa Municipal its capital is no exception. Return migration is an important part in the study of migration. This is because it can replace the loss of man-power labour deficit of emigration regions. The study looks into what accounted for the return migrants leaving Wa. It also investigates the factors associated with return migration into the Wa Municipality. Finally, this study looks into re-integration among the return migrants, migration and improved living standard and remittances. This study goes ahead to suggest recommendation for policy formulation in the Wa Municipal and other part of savannah Ghana.