Chapter 3: Migration Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Chapter 3 on Migration.

Migration

A form of relocation diffusion that involves a permanent move to a new location.

Mobility

A general term covering all types of movements between locations.

Circulation

Short-term, repetitive, or cyclical movements that recur on a regular basis, such as daily, monthly, or annually.

Emigration

Migration from a location.

Immigration

Migration to a new location.

Net migration

The difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration.

International migration

Permanent movement from one country to another.

Voluntary migration

Permanent movement undertaken by choice, usually for economic reasons.

Forced migration

Permanent movement compelled by cultural or environmental factors.

Internal migration

Permanent movement within a particular country.

Interregional migration

Permanent movement from one region of a country to another.

Intraregional migration

Permanent movement within one region of a country.

Migration transition

A change in the migration pattern in a society that results from industrialization, population growth, and other social and economic changes that also produces the demographic transition.

Push factor

A factor that induces people to move out of their present location.

Pull factor

A factor that induces people to move to a new location.

Refugee

Someone who is forced to migrate from his or her home country and cannot return for fear of persecution because of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.

Internally displaced person (IDP)

Someone who has been forced to migrate for similar political reasons as a refugee but has not migrated across an international border.

Asylum seeker

Someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee.

Floodplain

An area subject to flooding during a given number of years, according to historical trends.

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions such as excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting; also known as semiarid land degradation.

Intervening obstacle

An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that hinders migration.

Remittance

Transfer of money by workers to people in the country from which they emigrated.

Unauthorized immigrant

A person who enters a country without proper documents to do so.

Quota

In reference to migration, a law that places a maximum limit on the number of people who can immigrate to a country each year.

Brain drain

Large-scale emigration by talented people.

Chain migration

Migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there.

Circular migration

The temporary movement of a migrant worker between home and host countries to seek employment.

Guest worker

A term once used for a worker who migrated to the developed countries of Northern and Western Europe, usually from Southern and Eastern Europe or from North Africa, in search of a higher-paying job.

Counterurbanization

Net migration from urban to rural areas in more developed countries.