Nepalese society has experienced several transformations after the 1990s. These changes include demographic transitions; rapid urbanization; the expansion of formal education; a traditional subsistence economy to a remittance economy; infrastructure development like road networks, electricity, and telephone; and rapid cultural change and political shift. Among these transformations, Nepal has experienced distinct forms of mobility within and from the country, and the nature and pattern of this mobility have evolved with time and space. Now migration is a common and debatable phenomenon among scholars, policy level, and the public. This paper analyses how fundamental transformations of Nepalese society over the past 50 years have reshaped Nepal’s mobility complex, including emigration, rural-urban migration, Hill to Tarai migration, and change in settlement. Using the social transformation framework (de Haas et al., 2020) integrated with the ‘life course approach,’ this study analyses how migration patterns, generational values, and notions of good life impact migration in the Mid Hill region of Nepal.

This study first discussed the different dimensions of social transformation based on secondary data and its relation to migration transition in Nepal. We used the life history narratives method  from  two families of Tanahun, the mid-hill region of Nepal. We articulate their family life history within four generations and explore the relationship between migration and social transformation. 

We found earlier generations depended on subsistence agriculture and limited mobility. Over time, access to education and urbanization, and Nepal’s integration into the global economy significantly impacted mobility inside the country and abroad. Millennials (generations-y) migrated to urban centers to pursue higher education and seek alternative employment in cities and abroad. We also found that former and recent migration trends and remittances encouraged migration aspirations among the younger generations (Generation Z). It resulted in ‘migration’ as a cultural norm and the best alternative life course for younger generations. We also observed that out-migration has highly prevailed in rural areas of the Mid-hill region, even with significant improvement in general living conditions such as access to roads, electricity, etc., over previous decades. We found several houses were abandoned in uphill areas in the study area; they either migrated downhill or to other parts of the city due to aspiration-opportunity gap among rural inhabitants. In conclusion, early migration trends were driven by basic needs such as pastoral areas, whereas later migration waves were influenced by urbanization, expanded access to education and technology, political changes, and globalization. The recent wave is subjective to altered aspirations and changing perceptions of the “good life” within rural communities. So, rural development planning and policy must address the changing aspirations of the younger generation and work to bridge the aspiration-opportunity gap in policy and planning. This requires creating targeted programs that align rural opportunities with the evolving expectations of youth, instead of only focusing on infrastructural development in rural areas.