Over the last decade, a growing body of theoretical and empirical research has attempted to uncover the mechanisms behind return migration, as well as theconsequences for the migrant and her immediate personal network (household, community), the destination and the origin countries. This article providesa review of the return migration literature, focusing primarily on the microlevel perspective of migrants and their households. A typology of temporarymigration is presented and return migration is placed among other types of non-permanent migratory moves. Di erent approaches have been proposed bythe literature with regard to the identi cation and measurement of returnees. Finally, the theoretical literature and a selection of empirical ndings on determinants, timing, selectivity as well as consequences of return migration aresummarized and discussed.
