More traditional social patterns persisted in the poorer, more remote village, but there was in fact less out-migration.
Such developments could also come from inheritance patterns linked to the out-migration of the descendants of long-standing local freeholders and farmers.
In the absence of information on date of out-migration for the never-married population, it is impossible to be certain about the severity of the problem.
This paper reports an analysis of the human impact of out-migration on the older people left behind in villages and other predominantly rural settlements.
Thus, the life course of each individual can be studied, from birth or in-migration to out-migration or death.
In a climate of limited housing opportunities its effect was to discourage marriage while prompting out-migration in search of employment.
They suggest that out-migration was less of a necessity than might have been expected had nuptiality been higher.
The low rate of population growth is evidence of high out-migration, since official statistics are lacking.
