Factors affecting the migration from rural to urban areas a case studyin Gürün district of Si̇vas province

Throughout history, people have migrated by changing their settlement areas for different reasons. People living in rural areas migrate to cities. This migration movement is based on many different reasons and is widely observed especially in developing countries. In this thesis, the migration from the rural areas of the Gürün district of Sivas province to the cities is examined. The socioeconomic characteristics of the immigrants, the socioeconomic and sociocultural factors that are effective in the migration process, the level of change in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the willingness to return to the countryside and the factors affecting this desire are examined. The research data were obtained from the questionnaires made with 384 people determined according to the Cochran sampling method and accessed by the snowball method. According to the research findings, it is seen that the people who migrate are mostly young, have a high education level and their families are engaged in agriculture. They stated that they migrated from rural areas to metropolitan cities for job, education, and health opportunities. It is seen that socioeconomic factors are more effective than sociocultural factors in the migration process. Among the factors examined, the most important is the desire of people to offer a good future for their children. At each level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, significant changes were found before and after migration. It is seen that the level of meeting the physiological, security and belonging needs has decreased by migration. It is seen that the level of meeting the needs of esteem and self-actualization has increased. More than half of these people, who are of rural origin and can meet their needs in the cities, want to return to the rural areas. People who want to return are mostly retired people. Factors that positively affected the desire to return were age, occupational group, not having a house of their own, the fact that the elders of the family were in the countryside, and the changes in the level of meeting their needs. In the research, recommendations are made to improve the living standards of the countryside, to increase job and education opportunities, and to increase the income level. In addition, it has been revealed that the sustainability of the countryside will be preserved, and migration will decrease if regulations are provided for the dignity and self-actualization needs of the people. In the research, it was emphasized that public institutions and other stakeholders should undertake important duties in the implementation of policies and studies aimed at developing rural areas.