We offer an interpretation of the migration-mortality complex in the nineteenth century at the time that the population was escaping from the grip of hunger and recurrent famines. The geographical setting is the province of Liège in East Belgium, located in the French part of the Kingdom and bordering the Netherlands and Germany. This region was the first one on the European continent to follow the British example and enter the
industrial revolution. We use results from several case studies, based on both aggregate statistics and cross-sectional analyses of nominal data. In addition, we present some original multivariate longitudinal analyses from Belgian population registers, which are famous for their precise recording of migratory movements.