The Effect of Social Mobility on the Odds and Destination of Relocation: Moving within or out of the Brussels-Capital Region

Lena Imeraj, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Didier Willaert, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Sylvie Gadeyne, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Despite being the wealthiest region of Belgium, the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR) is marked by widening social inequalities, resulting in a distinct pattern of socioeconomic segregation. This spatial division is reinforced through both selective migration and the process of class reproduction. It has been illustrated thoroughly that both processes are strongly determined by one’s educational attainment. Through binary and multinomial logistic multilevel regression this study aims to reveal how educational attainment and the subsequent (lack off) opportunities for social mobility have an effect on the likelihood of people’s residential mobility, as well as on the direction of relocation. As a consequence, the composition of the neighbourhood population is affected in terms of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Analyses are drawn on the exhaustive and anonymous data from the Belgian censuses of 1991 and 2001, individually linked to the National Population Register (situation in 2006) to observe all internal migrations.