Geography of
population 3
Migrations
1
Background
What is migration?
 Why do people migrate?
 How can we classify migrations?
 What are the consequences of
migrations?
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Migration as spatial
mobility
Types of mobility
- social mobility
- economic mobility
- cultural mobility
 Spatial mobility
 Migrations

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Why spatial mobility?
Human need for movement
 Necessity to procure food and water
(physiological need)
 Necessity to visit other people (social
need)

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Spatial mobility and
migration
How to separate two phenomena that
are alike and not the same?
 What precisely does migration mean?
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Who is not a migrant?
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People with itinerant lifestyle
- Nomads
- Hunters and gatherers
- Itinerant salesmen
Activities including high mobility
- Commercial representatives
- Technicians on special mission
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Migration
... a change of residence, defined
according to administrative criteria.

It is more than simply moving house
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The Roseman model
Partial
Residence
Total
Activities outside residence
Reciprocal movement
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Migration
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Motivation
Nature/ecosystem (natural disasters of
all kinds)
 Society/economy (residential prestige,
unemployment, depletion of resources)
 Demography (population density,
ageing population)
 Force (wars, ideology, embargo)

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Ecosystem causes
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Social causes
Seychelles
high
medium
low
no data
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Economic causes
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Demographic causes
People
Land
Switzerland
Rwanda
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Rwanda & Switzerland
Population 2000
millions
Rwanda
Surface
sqkm
26,338
Switzerland
41,285
7.180
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8.508
14
Force
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Migration theories
2 bodies of theories and models
 Deterministic theories: migration
operates according to (natural) laws
and is predictable
 Probabilistic theories: migration is the
result of a decision and cannot be
foreseen

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Who is right?
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Both! It is a question of scale.
Macro: Certain ‘laws’ can be recognized on
the small scale (e.g. inside a country): large
centres generally attract migrants
Micro: The specific motives for a particular
migration can be detected on the large scale
(within a municipality or a district): local
circumstances influence a decision
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Ravenstein
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The laws of migration
Distance-dependency (more short than long
distance migrants)
Step-wise migration
Rurals are more mobile than urbanites
Women are more mobile than men but
cover shorter distances
Migration causes counter-movement
Dominance of economic reasons
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Gravitational model
(Reilly)
Application of physical law on
migrations
 Attraction between two centres is
inversely proportional to the distance
 The larger a centre, the higher its
attraction

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Gravitational formula
I ij = K .
P i xP j
d ij2
I = exchange between two populations (pi , pj),
d = distance, K = a constant
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Gravitational model
(Stouffer)
Introduction of ‘opportunities‘ and
‘intervening opportunities‘
 … the number of persons migrate over
a certain distance is proportional to the
number of opportunities at destination
and inversely proportional to the
number of intervening opportunities.
 Approach to reality
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Push-pull model
Push factors
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Pull factors
resources exhausted
loss of jobs
discrimination
lack of marriage
partners
catastrophe (natural or
man-made)
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job opportunities
higher income
better training
opportunities
living conditions
marriage
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Model by Everett Lee
Combination of positive, negative and
neutral factors in regions of origin and
of destination
 Evaluation of the individual factors by
the potential migrant
 Intervening obstacles
 A probabilistic model with emphasis
on choice

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The Lee-model
+ - 0 +
0 - +
+ +
Origin
+ - 0 +
0 - +
+ +
obstacles
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Destination
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The migration decision
Decisions are based on logical
thinking: yes – no
 A migration decision is linked to a
situation of dissatisfaction or to the
wish for innovation
 No decision is final, but the return to
exactly the former situation may be
impossible
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The decision-making
process (simplified)
Satisfied with current
residence?
YES
No migration
NO
Same region,
other residential area
Change desirable:
Decision to migrate
Other region,
same country
Other Region,
other country
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Migration typologies
How to classify the ‘unclassifiable‘?
 Dimensions to be taken into account:
- space (distance)
- time (duration)
- motive (free will, forced)
- socio-economic situation of migrants
- internal or external migration

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Examples
Ravenstein
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Local migration
Short distance
migration
Long distance
migration
Step-wise migration
Temporary migration
Pierre George
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Intercontinental
migration
International migration
Rural to rural migration
Rural to urban
migration
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Petersen
Interaction
Cause
Type
conservative
Man-Nature
Ecological
pressure
primitive
Nomads, Shifting cultivators
Man-State
Policy
violent
Deportation
Slavery
Man-State
Policy
Forced
Flight
Coolis
Man-Norms
Higher
claims
Voluntary
Migration in
groups
Pioneers
Man-Norms
(collective)
Social
impulses
Massmovements
Rural
settlements
Rural
exodus
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innovative
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Consequences of
migration
Region of destination
Localization
Region of origin
DIMENSIONS
SCALE
Individual
Group
Community
Society
Domains
-Demography
-Society
-Culture
-Politics
-Economy
-Environment
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The mobility transition
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Model developed by Zelinsky in 1970
Based on the idea that different types of
migration appear at different stages of
human development (transition linked to
process of modernization)
Link to theories of development stages (5
stages): pre-modern, traditional, transitional,
advanced, future super-advanced societies)
Different kinds of mobility
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Frontierward migration
Very strong in traditional and
transitional societies
 Extinct in advanced societies (no more
pioneer land)
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Rural exodus
Typical for industrial revolution
(transitional) and advanced society
 Almost vanished in late advanced and
super-advanced societies (no more
rural populations)
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Urban-urban migration
Important in advanced and superadvanced societies
 To some extent determined by gravity
aspects
 On the increase with growing
urbanization of the world
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International migration
Apex reached in early advanced
societies
 Nowadays strongly regulated
 New phenomenon in the superadvanced society: global migration
(politcal, economic and ecological
refugees)

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Ex-urbanization or
rurbanization
Migration movement missing from
Zelinsky‘s model
 Urban to rural migration, motivated by
aspects of quality of life (pollution,
population density, crime)
 Urban lifestyle is transferred to rural
areas

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Substitutes
Modern transportation means facilitate
commuting
 Modern information and telecommunications technology can replace
commuting

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Summary
Mobility and migrations have been part
of human history since the beginnings
 They have always changed character
 Migrations are a complex phenomenon
that defies simple explanation
 Subjective and objective motives mix
 There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ migrations

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