Migration to and from Khon Kaen Development Centre of Northeast Thailand: According to Population Registration Data for 1962 and 1972 9789814376587

Table of contents :
PREFACE
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: GROWTH CENTRES, INTERNAL MIGRATION AND PRIMACY IN THAILAND
I: KHON KAEN, DEVELOPMENT CENTRE OF NORTHEAST THAILAND
II: THE DATA
III: MIGRATION TO, FROM AND WITHIN DISTRICT KHON KAEN ACCORDING TO REGISTRATION DATA FOR 1962 AND 1972
IV: MIGRATION TO, FROM AND WITHIN DISTRICT KALASIN ACCORDING TO REGISTRATION DATA FOR 1962 AND 1972
V: MIGRATION BETWEEN KRUNG THEP MAHA NAKHON AND DISTRICTS KHON KAEN AND KALASIN, 1962 AND 1972
VI : ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE KHON KAEN GROWTH CENTRE WITH RESPECT TO INTERNAL MIGRATION

Citation preview

PREFACE

ln January 1976, the Center for Urban Research of th~ Univenity of Pittsburgh published a monograph titled "The effect of a growth c~nter on internal migration in a primate city system: Migration To and From Khon Kacn, D~elop­ ment Center of Northeast Thailand, according to the national population censuses of 1960 and 1970". ln the preface to this study which considered census data, perforce at the provincial l~el, 1 undertook to provide a second study which would deal with registration data. The following study considen registration data at the district level, the district being the principal territorial subdivision of the province. I promise a third study which will analyse registration data for more discrete areal units than districts: communes, municipalities and vill~s. I ask the reader, perhaps "caution" is a better word, to read the many tables and figures as carefully as he reads the text, since I do not reiterate what has been made perfectly dear through these d~ices. Further, I ask the reader to regard the many tables and figures as text, not as adjuncts to the discussion which may be glossed, but as inseparable from and essential to the argument. In order to impress this obligation on the reader, the many tables and figures are in textual sequence, not gathered together and stored in a subsequent section. A few footnotes to references accompany Chapter I; these are numbered sequentially and appear at the bottom of the relevant pages. Although I cannot hope to adequately repay the organizations which made this study possible through their generous assistance and co-operation, I can proffer thanks. First, to the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations which granted the funds under their joint Program in Support of Population Policy Research in the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Law; and to the Australian National University, which institution agreed to administer the award. The National Research Council of Thailand thought the study worthwhile and approved of its being carried out in Thailand. The Institute of Population Studies in Chulalongkom University wdcomect my affiliation aa Principal Investigator during the research period in Thailand. The Bureau of Registration and ldentiftcation in the Ministry of Interior, the Govemon of provinces Khon Kacn and Kalasin, and the registration officials in the capital districts of these two provinces granted me access to original registration forms. The Bangkok Metropolis and its City Planning Division graciously seconded Mr. Chira Chitrakom to work with me as Principal Assistant during the research

ll

period in Thailand. The Department of Geography in the School of General Studies of the Australian National University proffered all aid in preparing the manuscript for publication. Pauline Vance conversed with the Australian National University,s computer via a myriad of perceptive programmes. I cannot now name each of the good people who were of immense assistance to me during the gestation period of this study, but I am grateful for their aid. I hope this study offers some recompense for their selfless efforts.

August 1979

Larry Stemstein

iii

LIST OF TABLES Table No. 1

2 3

4

5 6 7

8 9 10 11

12 13

14

Salient Features of the Khon Kaen Development Centre of Northeast Thailand, 1960 and 1970 Censuses

7

District Khon Kaen: Registered Number of Groups of Different Numbers of Persons Migrating Together, 1972

15

District Khon Kaen: Rectified Registered Number of Groups of Different Numbers of Persons Migrating Together, 1972

16

District Khon Kaen: Registered Number of Groups of Different Numbers of Persons Migrating Together, 1962

17

District Khon Kaen: Relationship to Head of Household, Single Migrants, 1962 and 1972

20

District Khon Kaen: Relationship to Head of Household, Migrant Groups of Two or More Persons, 1962 and 1972

21

District Khon Kaen: Nationality of Migrants Registered during 1962 and 1972

22

District Khon Kaen: 1962 and 1972

Occupation of Migrants,

District Khon Kaen: 1962 and 1972

Education of Migrants,

District Khon Kaen: Migration, 1972

Salient Features of Internal

District Khon Kaen: Migration, 1962

Salient Features of Internal

23 24

25 26

District Khon Kaen: Number of In·, Out- and Within-Migrants, 1962 and 1972

31

District Khon Kaen: Sex Ratios of In·, Out· and Within-Migrants, 1962 and 1972

31

District Khon Kaen: Number of Migrants in Groups of Various Sizes;ln·, Out· and Within-Migration, 1962 and 1972

32

IV

Table No.

15

District Kho n Kaen: Relationship to Head of Household of Individual In-, Out- and Within-Migrants, 1962 and 1972

33

16

District Khon Kaen: Relationship to Head of Household of In-, Out- and Within-Migrant Gro ups o f Two and More Persons, 1962 and 1972

17

District Khon Kaen: Occupation of In-, Out- and WithinMigrants, 1962 and 1972

35

District Khon Kaen: Index of Effective Distribution of Migrants in Major District Interchanges, 1962 and 19 72

36

District Kalasin: Number of In-, Out- and With inMigrants, 1962 and 1972

45

District Kalasin: Sex Ratios o f In-, Out- and WithinMigrants, 1962 and 1972

45

District Kalasin: Number of Migrants in Groups o f Various Sizes; In-, Out- and With in-t-.1igration, 1962 and 1972

46

District Kalasin: Relationship to Head of Household of Individual In-, Out- and Within-Migrants, 1962 and 19 72

47

District Kalasin: Relationship to Head of Household o f In-, Out- and Within-Migrant Groups of Two and More Persons, 1962 and 1972

48

District Kalasin: Occupation of In-, Out- and WithinMigrar~ ts, 196 2 and 19 7 2

49

District Kalasin: Index of Effective Distribution o f Migrants in Major District Interchanges, 1962 and 19 72

50.

Gross and Net Migration Between Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and Districts Khon Kaen and Kalasin, 1962 and 1972

59

18 19

20 21

22 23

24

25 26 27

Sex Ratios of ln- and Out-Migration Between Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and Districts Khon Kacn and Kalasin,

1962 and 1972

59

v

Table No.

28

29

30

Age Structure of Migrants Between Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and Districts Khon Kaen and Kalasin, 1962 and 1972

61

Education of Migrants Between Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and Districts Khon Kaen and Kalasin, 1962 and 1972

62

Occupation of Migrants Between Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and Districts Khon Kaen and Kalasin, 1962 and 1972

63

V1

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. 1

Thailand:

Provinces and Regions

4

2

Thailand:

Regional Growth Centres

5

3

Thailand:

Highways and Railways

6

4

Thailand:

Districts and Municipalities

5

District Khon Kaen:

6

District Khon Kaen: Weekly and Fortnightly Migrant Registrations

13

7

District Khon Kaen:

19

8

District Khon Kaen: Weekly Migrant Registrations, In-, Out- and Within-Migration, 1962 and 1972

37

District Khon Kaen: Age-Sex Pyramids, In-, Outand Within-Migrants, 1962 and 19 72

38

District Khon Kaen: and Province, 1962

Gross Migration by District 39

District Khon Kaen: and Province, 1972

Gross Migration by District

9

10

11

12

13

14 15

16

Daily Migrant Registrations

Age-Sex Pyramids

10 12

40

District Khon Kaen: Change in Gross Migration by District and Province, 1962 and 1972

41

District Khan Kaen: Effective Distribution of Migrants by District and Province, 1962

42

District Khan Kaen: Effective Distribution of Migrants by District and Province, 1972

43

District Kalasin: Weekly Migrant Registrations, In-, Out- and Within-Migration, 1962 and 1972

51

District Kala.sin: Age-Sex Pyramids, In-, Outand Within-Migrants, 1962 and 1972

52

vu

Figure No. 17

District Kalasin: Gross Migration by District and Province, 1962

18

District Kalasin: Province, 1972

19

District Kalasin: Change in Gross Migration by District and Province, 1962 and 1972

55

20

District Kalasin: Effective Distribution of Migrants by District and Province, 1962

56

21

District Kalasin: Effective Distribution of Migrants by District and Province, 19 72

57

22

Migration Between Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and Districts Khon Kaen and Kalasin, 1962 and 1972

60

53

Gross Migration by District and 54

CONTENTS

PREFACE LIST OF TABLES

Ill

LIST OF FIGURES

VI

INTRODUCTION: GROWTH CENTRES, INTERNAL MIGRATION AND PRIMACY IN THAILAND KHON KAEN, DEVELOPMENT CENTRE OF NORTHEAST THAILAND

3

II :

THE DATA

8

III:

MIGRATION TO, FROM AND WITHIN DISTRICT KHON KAEN ACCORDING TO REGISTRATION DATA FOR 1962 AND 1972

29

MIGRATION TO, FROM AND WITHIN DISTRICT KELASIN ACCORDING TO REGISTRATION DATA FOR 1962 AND 1972

44

MIGRATION BE1WEEN KRUNG THEP MAHA NAKHON AND DISTRICTS KHON KAEN AND KALAS IN, 1962 AND 1972

58

ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE KHON KAEN GROWTH CENTRE WITH RESPECT TO INTERNAL MIGRATION

64

1:

IV:

V:

VI:

INTRODUCI'ION:

GROWTH CENTRES, INTERNAL MIGRATION

AND PRIMACY IN THAILAND

Unregulated and unforeseen population movements usually affect national development adversely, and most governments, as the government of Thailand, have formulated policies designed to affect (not to determine) the magnitude and the dir«tion of internal migration. One such indirect population policy which is popular among l~sser developed countries and particularly among those having a primate city system, as does Thailand, seeks to decentralize urbanization and to foster regional development through the agency of growth centres. Indeed, growth centre development strategies have been implemented in many countries, Thailand included, despite an ongoing debate, replete with semantic confusion, about the validity of this approach, and in the face of the fact that the effect of the growth centre strategy on internal migration is unknown. The absence of this assessment is regrettable, but unsurprising, since there are formidable obstacles to the sensible evaluation of the connections between growth centres and internal migration. Still, the effect of growth centres on internal migration must be assessed if the worth of the growth centre strategy in this regard is to be judged. The following attempt to evaluate the effect of the Khon Kaen "growth centre" of Northeast Thailand on internal migration was undertaken in order to provide some information to the government which would assist it to determine the efficacy of its growth centre strategy on this aspect of its population policy. Thailand is among the most centralized of nations: its capital, Bangkok, is at once the political, commercial, industrial, cultural and administrative capital of the country. Bangkok, in fact, is the world's preeminent primate city; and the system of urban places focused on the capital is the world's foremost example of a centripetal urban system on a national scale. Although the government has recently adopted a cautious policy of decentralization in an attempt to mitigate the overwhelming problems which now plague Bangkok as a result of its great growth (largely uncontrolled and seemingly uncontrollable), this policy has had no noticeable effect on the national system of urban centres. Indeed, the primacy of Bangkok has heightened dramatically in recent decades: in 1960, Bangkok was approximately twenty-five times larger than the next largest Thai "city", Chiang Mai, with a population of approximately 66,000; in 1970, Bangkok was approximately thirty-three times larger than the next largest "city", again Chiang Mai which then held approximately 84,000 people; by 1980, Bangkok will be well over forty times

2

as large as the next largest centre in Thailand. In 1970, there were 118 municipalities in Thailand outside Bangkok: four-fifths of these "urban" places held less than 25,000 people each; and three-fifths of all these centres held less than 15,000 people each. The municipality of Khon Kaen, with a population of approximately 29,500, was the twentieth most populous "city" in 1970. Of the twenty-one municipalities located in the Northeast region, the municipality of Khon Kaen ranked fourth. Bangkok looms large in the pattern of internal migration in Thailand. In 1960, most major interprovincial migration streams ran to Bangkok or em;matcd from the metropolis to adjoining provinces. Several peripheral provinces upcountry and a few in which major developments were afoot were focuses for major inter· provincial migrations. All but a few of the major flows upcountry were between adjoining provinces with lengthy common borders, however, so these migration streams might better be described as "washes" across provincial boundaries. Ten years later, in 1970, major interprovincial migration streams reinforced and elaborated the pattern of 1960. The intensification of earlier migration flows might have been anticipated, given the great growth of the population and the level of national development in the intercensal period. What is surprising is the magnitude of the increase in the number and intensity of these streams. The migrant catchment of Bangkok expanded enormously, and the migration counterstreams from the metropolis intensified and proliferated. Migration flows to relatively remote and sparsely populated peripheral provinces upcountry were greatly augmented, and these streams proliferated as migrants sought out arable lands in formerly unwanted areas. Although most major upcountry interprovincial migration flows in 1970 were between adjoining provinces, as in 1960, several were between noncontiguous provinces, which implied that directed movements or migration streams had been established. The most significant change in internal migration from 1960 to 1970, however, was a 100% increase in the net number of in-migrants to Bangkok. Although induced growth centres with populations of, say, a quarter of a million in an industrialized economy may properly serve as regional centres of in-migration, the question is whether upgrading several provincial centres in Thailand will do anything to check excessive population flows into Bangkok.

3

1:

KHON KAEN, DEVELOPMENT CENTRE OF NORTHEAST THAILAND!

When Khon Kaen town was designated the development centre for Northeast Thailand in 19622 it was a small provincial capital, undistinguished save for being the most centrally located on-rail town in the region (see Figures 1, 2 and 3). Khon Kaen has since been transformed. Several tens of government agencies concerned with development in the Northeast now have regional or subregional offices in or near Khon Kaen. A regional technical school and the University of the Northeast have been established. A network of paved roads, a spacious, modem bus terminal and a newly constructed airfield, in addition to a renovated railway, have made Khon Kaen a major transportation hub, readily accessible to northeastemers and indeed to all of Thailand. Khon Kaen was the first provincial centre to have a town plan.3 Although this plan, designed to make Khon Kaen a showpiece of modern urban development, has not been carried out wholemeal, urban facilities have been greatly improved and expanded, and commercial activity has burgeoned and diversified. The population of Khon Kaen town increased more than 50% in the period 1960-70 (see Table 1). Considerable extramunicipal urban development also occurred during this period, stimulated by the establishment nearby of a number of regional facilities and the proliferation of the roadway system. The area of the municipality was enlarged officially from the little more than 4 square kilometres delimited at its inception in 1935 to 42 square kilometres in August 1971. At this time, the 4 government was reportedly considering the industrialization of certain regional centres Diacuuion foUowa Chapter l in L. Stemstein, "The effect of a growth center on internal migration in a primate city system: Migratio n To and From Khon Kaen, Development Center of Northea.at Thailand, according to the natio nal population censUJes of 1960 and 19 70", Center for Urban Research, Univeraity of Pittsburgh, January 1976. 2 See The National Economic Development Board, The National Economic Development Plan 1961-1966 (Bangkok : Office of the Prime Minister, Government of Thailand, 1961) . 3 See Department of Town and Country Planning, Plan of Province Kh on Kaen 1982 (Bangkok : Ministry of Interior, Government of Thailand, 1962) (in Thai). 4 See M.L. Thornaa and C. Noranitipadungkarn, with the aasiatance of R. Krannich, " Administrative Capacity of Urban Centers in Northeaat Thailand to Handle iUl Influx of Pa Mong Evacuees: &hon Kaen, A Caae Study" (May 1972), 63 pagea; and L. Krannich, "The Conatruction Firm aa a Middleman: Toward Conceptual Category of Thai Urban Development," in Urbanization in Thailand, Center for Southeaat Asian Studiea, Occaaional Papers, Number 2. Center for Governmental Studies, North em lllinois University, 19 74.

Fig. 1

Thailand

PROVINCES AND REGIONS

EAST II 12 13 14 IS 16

!rat Clmi/IJM Rayq Chon Bu11 ChachOen~

Pract>mtun

NORTHEAST

?J CE NTRAl

llrung Thep Maha Nalihon

Samul Prakan Nonlhatur Pattun lhanr ~Nayol