APHUG 2.4

Mobility - all types of movement from one location to another

Circulation - movements that occur on a regular basis

Emigration - movement away from a location

Immigration - movement to a location

Net Migration - difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants in a location

International Migration - permanent move from one country to another

• Voluntary Migration - migrant that has chosen to move, usually for economic or environmental reasons

• Forced Migration - migrant has been compelled to move by political or environmental factors

Internal Migration - permanent move within a single country

• Interregional - movement from one region to a different one

• Intraregional - movement within one region

Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration

1. Migration is typically over a short distance

2. Migration occurs in steps, like from a rural area to a nearby city, and then perhaps on to a larger city

3. Long-distance migrants often move to places of economic opportunity (urban areas)

4. Every migration generates countermigration (not necessarily of same size)

5. People in rural areas migrate more than people in cities

6. Males migrate over longer distances than females

7. Most migrants are young adult males

8. Cities grow more by migration than by natural increase

9. Migration increases with economic development

10. Migration is mostly due to economic factors

Gravity Model - population of a city increases → migration to the city increases & distance to a city increases → migration to the city decreases

Causes of Migration

Guest Workers - temporary laborers in another country

May engage in circular migration - repeatedly leaving home country for work then returning

Remittances - send money back home to families

Often choose to stay permanently in their destination country

Special Economic Zones - Chinese regions with more loosened economic policies to attract foreign investment

More people from central China move to these Special Economic Zones

In Europe, people are leaving the Iberian Peninsula and Eastern Europe to move to Germany

Transhumance - seasonal migrations due to moving herds around to feed

Moving herds to highlands in summer and back to lowlands in the winter

Voluntary Migration

Chain Migration - the process by which people join family members who have emigrated and established themselves in a new location

Step Migration - the process by which some migrants move to intervening locations before arriving at their final destination

• Intervening Obstacle - an occurrence holds migrants back from continuing their journey

• Intervening Opportunity - an occurrence that causes migrants to pause their journey by choice

Important trend in migration today - rural-to-urban migration

• As agricultural opportunities decline, jobs easier to find in cities

• Mostly taking place in Africa and Asia

Suburban Migration - people move from suburbs to cities, but DOUBLE move from cities to suburbs

Distance Decay - how distance affects interactions between two locations - greater distance → fewer interactions

Forced Migration

Causes of forced migration include extreme push factors - conflict, political upheaval, natural disasters, persecution

Refugees - people forced to leave their country for fear of persecution or death

• Have right to request asylum - protection in another country, in any of 145 countries that have ratified United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention

  • Official refugee status must be granted by country providing asylum or by international agency → can be a long and difficult process

  • Once approved for refugee status, host country expected to provide civil rights, right to work, and access to social services

• Number of refugees has reached record highs, fewer refugees have been able to repatriate - return to home country

  • Organizations need to make more long-term camps - where refugees can find support for needed adaptations to new location

• Large portion of refugees come from just few different countries - 1/2 come from Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia

Internally Displaced Persons - have fled their homes but remain within borders of their country

• Generally move because of political causes or environmental causes

• Number of IDPs excess number of refugees

  • Must stay within home country by choice, due to not having means to flee or trapped by conflict

  • Especially vulnerable because international organizations have trouble reaching them

Trail of Tears - forced Native American relocation from Eastern US to Oklahoma

Slave Trade - largest forced migration in world history

Human Trafficking - modern day slavery

Diaspora - large number of people displaced

Somali Migration - migrants from Somalia resettled in US starting 1990s, many have made secondary internal migrations

Hmong Migration - Hmong refugees (Laos) began moving to US in 1975, Hmong supported US troops in the Vietnam War

• 1975 Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act allowed 300,000 refugees from Southeast Asia into US

• Many Hmong have made secondary internal migrations

Most immigration policy created to meet labor market needs

Secondary purpose is to maintain current immigration levels

Policies exist to attract skilled workers, promote immigrants’ well-being and integration to society, to address illegal immigration

Controlling illegal immigration is a major policy challenge - may arise from concerns for country’s welfare or from xenophobia - fear or dislike of outsiders

Female migrants face different opportunities and risks than male migrants

• Women from countries with strict laws governing their behavior may encounter more freedoms in new location

• Female migrants at greater risk of violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault

• Some organizations pushing countries to develop policies to address needs of female migrants

EU facing massive influx of asylum seekers

• EU policy states asylum seekers must apply for asylum in first EU country they enter - strain on EU countries on Mediterranean Sea

• Other countries temporarily ignored policy to accept asylum applications after large number of refugees broke through their borders

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 - first US policy to restrict immigration

• Greatly reduced number of immigrants from Asia before being repealed in 1943

Quotas - (in 1920) continued to severely limit number of Asian, Arab, and African immigrants allowed in the US

1965 Immigration and Nationality Act instituted more inclusive policy

After 9/11, stricter border patrols and immigration requirements

Migration has some positive economic consequences in destination countries

• Migrants source of labor for less-desirable, lower-paying jobs

• Qualified migrants can reduce skills gap - shortage of people trained in an industry

• May reduce dependency ratio in countries with low birth rates

Migration also has negative economic consequences in destination countries

• Migrants may reduce number of jobs available for native-born citizens

• Migrants send wages out of country instead of investing in local economy

Migration has positive and negative economic consequences in countries of origin

• Unemployment lessens as working-age adults emigrate

• Less strain on resources such as food and health care

• Remittances provide source of income to those who stay behind

• Loss of young working-age adults can slow an economy’s ability to develop

• Brain drain - loss of trained or educated people to lure of another country

Destination countries feel cultural and social effects of migration

• Migrants being food, music, fashion, religion, and language with them

• Many migrants open restaurants, food becomes popular within native-born cultures

• Relocation diffusion - spread of cultural traits through migration

• Cultural costs - receiving countries expend resources to meet the needs of immigrants; some native-borns feel culture is threatened; ethnic neighborhoods may slow immigrants’ acclimation to the new country

Countries of origin also experience cultural and social effects from migration

• Remittances allow for more comfortable lifestyles

• Village and family life is disrupted by loss of young men and women

The Great Migration (1910-1929) - Blues, Southern Food, other Culture traits diffused to North; loss of African-American farms and farmers