URL: https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-12183205
Summary
This research note examines how COVID-19 reshaped long-distance internal population movements in Mexico between April 2020 and May 2022. Using location data from Facebook users, the paper tracks changes in movements of more than 100 kilometres across the rural-urban hierarchy. It finds a substantial decline in long-distance mobility during 2020, especially in flows to and from large cities, followed by a gradual and uneven recovery through 2021 and 2022. The study shows how digital trace data can reveal medium-term mobility disruptions in contexts where conventional high-resolution migration statistics are limited.