Migration is a phenomenon that has been taking place in India since ancient times. Migration refers to a situation where a person leaves his/her place of residence and goes elsewhere to improve his/her socioeconomic status by finding more suitable employment opportunities, better education, more earnings and so it.
Migration can also take into account movement from one part of a country or region to another. In the case of the Indian Census, it records the movement of people from one state or district to another within the country.
Census in India contains information about migration in the country. Migration was recorded beginning from the first Census of India conducted in 1881. Data were recorded on the basis of place of birth.
First major modification was introduced in 1961 Census by bringing in two additional components viz; place of birth i.e. village or town and duration of residence (if born elsewhere).
Further in 1971, additional information on place of last residence and duration of stay at the place of enumeration were incorporated. Information on reasons for migration were incorporated in 1981 Census and modified in consecutive Censuses.