A general redistribution of the West German population down the metropolitan size hierarchy occurred during the first half of the 1980s, and was not the result of (a net) out-migration from old industrial areas in the coal mining and iron and steel regions. Explanations for this changing migration system correspond with the principles of deconcentration theory. A spatial deconcentration of manufacturing and service sector employment during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s allowed family-aged migrants to actualize their preferences for living in lower-density and small urban areas, and as a result a regional deconcentration of population became evident in the 1980s. © 1991.

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Tertiary Sector economics population industry demography Europe Migrants Population Dynamics Family And Household Developed Countries Western Europe family size Family Characteristics Germany, Federal Republic Of Germany, West geography health care manpower Health Manpower Article migration age Geographic Factors developed country Age Factors population and population related phenomena Demographic Factors Emigration and Immigration Economic Factors Transients and Migrants Population Characteristics german federal republic Human Resources Macroeconomic Factors employment Labor Force Spatial Distribution--changes