2. I Principal Migration Patterns
A. Intercontinental Migrations are
movements between continents. These can
change the population structures of
countries.
B. Intracontinental or interregional migrations
involve movements between neighboring
countries or states. These happen usually for
perceived improvements in working or
economic conditions.
C. Rural to Urban movements. More and
more people are moving off farms and into
cities.
3. II Types of Migrations
A. Forced Migrations are when the migrant has no say in
their own movement. Examples include African
Slaves, European convicts to Australia, and movements east
in Russia. Also included in this is American Indian tribes
forced to move to Oklahoma.
B. Reluctant relocation when you are pressured to
move. Indonesia pressured millions of people to move from
the island of Java to other less populated islands.
This also includes refugees, people that move out of fear
from wars or persecution, or political problems, which
number in the Millions.
C. Voluntary migrations where people move because they
are looking for better situation than what they have
presently. Poverty is largest reason for voluntary migrations
along with flood, drought, terrorism, etc.
4. III Controls on Migration
A. Economic migrations occur for many
reasons. Usually there are several
overlapping mechanisms that trigger
migrations
B. Push Factors. These are things such as
the loss of a job, lack of opportunity,
overcrowding, slums, poverty, etc.
5. C. Pull factors which are the perceived positives of
the destination. More jobs, higher pay, climate,
lower taxes, better living conditions, and
available housing. Sometimes these are not real.
China has 100 million floating workers have
moved to cities looking for work that is not
always there.
D. Place Utility is the process in which a
person evaluates their current location in
relation to known or perceived qualities
of a new location.
6. E. Individual aspiration comes into play and if a
person is satisfied with the current conditions then
spatial search behavior ends. Spatial search is
when you go through the process of evaluating other
locations.
F. Migrants usually want to avoid danger and
uncertainty so two types of migration patterns
exist.
1. Step migration is when you move in
small steps to new places. Like
from farms, to small cities, to suburbs,
to the big city.
2. Chain Migration, where people from
similar locations follow established
paths to prepared locations. Chain
migrations can also apply to
occupational groups.
7. G. Not all immigrants stay at their
destination. Counter migration occurs when
people return to their homeland or move on
to other countries. Return migration
makes up as much as 25% of in-
migrations in some states.
H. Channelized migrations is when you have
people from similar locations migrate
to similar locations even though there are
no relations. Blacks migrating to
northern cities, Scandinavians to
Minnesota, Swiss to Midway Utah are
examples.
8. IV E.G Ravenstein
A Ravenstein observed all of these patterns of
migrations and in the 1870s and 1880s came up with
a series of “laws of migration”
1. Most migrants only go a short distance
2. Longer-distance migrations favor big city
destinations
3. Most migration proceeds step by step
4. Most migration is from rural to urban
5. Each migration flow produces a
counterflow
6. Most migrants are adults; families are less
likely to make international moves
7. Most international migrants are young
males
9. B. Last two deal with personal attributes.
Migrants do not represent a cross section of the
source population
C. Young adults are the most mobile.
D. More Females migrate today than when the
“laws” were introduced. Today females make up
almost half of migrants. They are also usually
young adults and move for financial reasons.
E. One last observation or law can be added. Most
migrants are well educated. In Africa as
many as ¾ of all immigrants have a higher
education. This creates a “Brain Drain” on a
population where there are less educated
people to lead or help develop countries.
10. B. Last two deal with personal attributes.
Migrants do not represent a cross section of the
source population
C. Young adults are the most mobile.
D. More Females migrate today than when the
“laws” were introduced. Today females make up
almost half of migrants. They are also usually
young adults and move for financial reasons.
E. One last observation or law can be added. Most
migrants are well educated. In Africa as
many as ¾ of all immigrants have a higher
education. This creates a “Brain Drain” on a
population where there are less educated
people to lead or help develop countries.
