Spatial Analysis of Rural Floating Population Employed in Urban Areas

Commuting between rural and urban areas is one of the most important and most remarkable forms of incorporation and integration of rural and urban areas. It is a new spatial phenomenon emerging in most developing and developed countries. In this regard, the present study aims to spatially analyze the rural floating population employed in urban areas of Iran. The study data were extracted from the 2011 General Population and Housing Census. The spatial scale is analyzed at county level and the methodology is mainly exploratory. The results show that the share of rural labor force employed in urban areas in 2011 was 12.8%. However, its distribution is not uniform across the provinces and the provinces of Mazandaran, Tehran and Khorasan Razavi have the highest floating rate. Based on the results of exploratory spatial data analysis, three main focal points of rural floating population, including Tehran metropolitan region, Esfahan metropolitan region and southwest of the country with a focus on Bushehr were identified. Concentration and diversification of economic activities, industries and services are a major factor that can explain the formation process of the main centers of commuting from rural to urban areas.