Internal migration in Indonesia: Remapping trajectories

Most conventional perspectives depict internal migration as a straightforward process, starting in rural areas and culminating in urban centers. This study, utilizing data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), aims to explore alternative migration patterns in Indonesia beyond the traditional rural–urban migration. Analyzing five waves of IFLS data, this research employed sequence analysis and multinomial logistic regression, revealing a nuanced picture of internal migration in Indonesia. The results reveal that, contrary to the one-step rural-urban migration narrative, individuals in Indonesia often undergo multiple rural or urban migrations, influenced by factors such as gender, education, age, and migration motives. These findings underscore the complexity of internal migration patterns in Indonesia, challenging the conventional rural–urban migration model. © 2025 Author(s).