Migration is one of the most important population phenomena to economic planners,
especially in the Third World countries. Migration is most affected by rural-urban
relations. High density of population in major cities and rapid decline of rural populations
have created huge social and economic issues in Iran, and this has changed the settlement
patterns. Continuing uncontrolled migration of villagers could be regarded as an indicator
of the lack of a regional approach in economic and social activities in Iran's development
planning. Centralist policies in positioning of these activities, on the one hand lead to
concentration of services and different welfare and economic facilities in cities, and on
the other hand, end in poverty and deprivation in rural areas. Persistence of this unequal
trend has led to duality and a gap between urban and rural areas, and they have turned
into hubs of attractive and repulsive populations. In "Khav and Myrabad" district which
is one of Iran's borders districts, rural-urban migration is common to a greater or lesser
degree. In order to reduce migration and achieve sustainable development in this region,
it is essential to investigate the causes of these migrations and provide a solution for it.
The aim of this study was to investigate these causes. Thus, the main research question is:
What are the main causes of rural migration from "Khav and Myrabad" district to
“Marivan”? For this question, a hypothesis was proposed and this paper is trying to test
this hypothesis. It seems that the main causes of rural-urban migration in “Khav and
Myrabad” district are unemployment and low income.