Urban exodus? Understanding human mobility in Britain during the COVID-19 pandemic using Meta-Facebook data

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Urban Studies
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Existing research primarily assessed nonpharmaceutical interventions' impact on human mobility during COVID-19.
• Limited understanding exists regarding how the pandemic reshaped national population movement patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the extent and evolution of changes in spatial population movement patterns across Britain's rural-urban continuum.
• To empirically assess claims of an urban exodus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a dataset of 21 million observations from Meta-Facebook users.
• Analyzed population movement across the rural-urban continuum over an 18-month period (March 2020 - August 2021).

Main Results:

• Observed a sustained decline in population movement during high-stringency measures, with the largest reductions in densely populated areas.
• Found temporary increases in mobility from high-density to low-density areas, supporting urban exodus claims.
• Noted that mobility returned to pre-pandemic levels after easing interventions, with a subsequent decrease in rural-bound movement and an increase in urban-bound movement.

Conclusions:

• COVID-19 induced temporary changes in population movement patterns in Britain.
• These pandemic-driven shifts did not significantly reshape the fundamental structures of national population movement.
• Internal population movements in 2021 remained at an intermediate level between pre-pandemic and early-pandemic phases.