Migration is a prominent policy issue in many African countries, and youth and young adult (YYA) migration can be particularly important for the future vitality of rural and urban communities. However, there is limited empirical evidence on how agricultural land-related factors and off-farm employment are associated with rural-to-rural and rural-to-urban outmigration by YYA. We use data from nationally representative panel surveys from Zambia to estimate logit and multinomial logit models to investigate these issues. Results show that for young adults (ages 25-35), and to a lesser extent for youth (ages 15-24), employment in the off-farm economy is associated with a reduced likelihood of outmigration to both rural and urban areas - possibly because this method of income diversification reduces the need or desire for the geographic income diversification that can be achieved through migration. Results related to agricultural land factors are substantially more variable than results related to employment in the off-farm economy. We find that indicators of land market activity, perceived land availability in a village, and indicators of land tenure security have nuanced and varied associations with outmigration depending on destination type, migration type, and age group. The land related results suggest that careful policy and programs design is needed to accommodate the differential impacts that land market activity, land access perceptions, and tenure security may have on groups such as YYA who are important for the long term productivity and vitality of their communities.
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