Question

Discuss the factors that are considered in designating a move as an instance of migration.

Answer 1

• Economic motives loom large in all human movements, but are particularly important with regards to migration.Many pull factors like,better jobs,better incentives/salary,having a better life motivate people to migrate to a different country or place.An example might be the “brain drain” to America that occurred in the latter half of the 20th century from several other western countries.
• Economic push factors tend to be the exact reversal of the pull factors:like,overpopulation,lack of job opportunities,low wages.This lack of economic opportunity tends to push people to look for their futures outside the area of their origin.
• An example of this is the migration of Mexicans and people from other Central American countries into the US, where they often work low-wage, long-hour jobs in farming, construction and domestic labour.
• Social reasons tend to involve forced migration.Pull factors include,principles of religious tolerance and push factors include,intolerance towards a certain cultural group and active religious persecution.
  
• The differences in the population growth rates of the different regions of a nation have been found to be a determinant in the internal migration. Fertility and the natural increase in population are generally higher in rural areas which drift the population towards the city.
• Other important demographic factor in internal migration is marriage because females are used to follow their spouses.
• Sometimes family conflicts, the quest for independence, also cause migration especially, of those in the younger generation. Improved communication facilities, such as, transportation, impact of television, good network communication, the cinema, the urban oriented education and resultant change in attitudes and values also promote migration.
• Other factors such as the presence of relatives and friends in urban areas, desire to receive education which is available only in urban areas are factors responsible for migration. Closeness of cultural contacts, cultural diversity, great vitality, individual attitudes are also associated with migration.