The Kerala Migration Survey 2018, eighth in the series of studies on migration undertaken by the Centre for Development Studies, sheds light on the various issues concerning migration and mobility, based on a large-scale sample survey of 15,000 households. It gathers the findings of two decades of research done at the CDS and examines migration dynamics from multiple perspectives: demographic, economic and sociopolitical. As per the KMS 2018, there are 2.1 million emigrants from Kerala across the world. However, there has been a decline of 3 lakh emigrants during 2013–18. The estimated total remittances to Kerala are₹85,092 crore, an increase from ₹71,142 crore reported in 2014. This is due to the fact that Keralites in the Gulf have climbed up the social ladder and earn higher wages, allowing them to remit more.
