INTERMUNICIPAL MIGRATORY MOVEMENTS IN THE STATE OF TOCANTINS (BRAZIL) BETWEEN 1991 AND 2010

• Main Authors: Ana Márcia Moreira Alvim, João Benvindo Amaral, Guilherme Luiz Lopes Ferreira
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal da Bahia 2017-07-01
• Series: GeoTextos
• Subjects: movimentos migratórios; redistribuição da população; imigrantes / migratory movements; redistribution of population; immigrants
• Online Access: https://periodicos.ufba.br/index.php/geotextos/article/view/20527
• ISSN: 1809-189X; 1984-5537

The state of Tocantins currently consists of 139 municipalities that differ in demographic size, which varies according to natural growth and migration. Process leading to the redistribution of population over the territory. Therefore, the objective is to analyze the inter-municipal migratory movements that took place in Tocantins between 1991 and 2010. The migration data were obtained from the Brazilian Instituto Brasileiro from Geografia and Estatística – IBGE, and extracted using SPSS statistical software. In this way, the inter-state inter-municipal migration matrices were generated and the migratory movements could be analyzed. The Tocantins, because it is a relatively new unit of the federation, has undergone changes that deserve to be considered by the public authorities. It was found that although the municipality of Palmas has a strong attraction, in the eastern mesoregion of which it is a part, many municipalities lose population. On the contrary, in the Western mesoregion, many win. The more intense movements of long distance occurred mainly towards the capital. Already the older municipalities, Araguaína and Gurupi, attract larger volumes of migrants from the surrounding area. In the Eastern mesoregion, many municipalities present negative migratory balances, being exporters; While in the western mesoregion the majority have a positive migratory balance being attractive to the population tocantinense. The movements that have taken place have led to greater population concentration in the new urban center – Palmas – but also in those that already had a differentiated urban structure – such as Araguaína and Gurupi –, which deserves greater attention from the public authorities. Although Palmas was created in a strategic position, the mesoregion that it integrates continues counting on municipalities whose headquarters do not have urban structure and economic dynamism capable of changing the reality of the region, and of their respective municipalities, being the responsibility of the government to think in strategies for avoid the concentration.