Geographic immobility across three generations of natives in Finland

Research concerning internal migration increasingly acknowledge family members also outside the household as important factors in (im)mobility decisions. Through multi-generational support exchange and location specific capital, older generations and familiar environments have shown to constitute strong geographical attractors. However, less is still known about immobility across generations, whether it is transmitted between generations and under what conditions. Using Finnish register data spanning over five decades, we provide an overview of regional (im)mobility patterns across three generations. We then analyse who is more likely to live in one’s birth region also as a grown up in relation to local ancestral ties. Finland offers a highly useful case due to its two official national languages, Finnish and Swedish, and thereby two main ethno-linguistic groups, characterized by historically different mobility patterns and geographical concentrations. Main findings show how local ancestral ties are indeed related to sedentary behavior, especially if stretching several generations back in time. In terms of effect sizes, ancestral ties have relatively large determinant roles behind individual’s immobility behaviour. Significant differences between the ethno-linguistic groups are found, with a stronger relationship between ancestral local ties and sedentary behaviour among the Swedish speaking minority group than among the Finnish speaking majority population.