Demography: The study of
migration
Types of movement
 Activity space
 Daily routine
 Magnitude varies in
different societies
 Technology has
expanded daily activity
spaces
Three types of human movement:
Cyclic movement
Periodic
Migratory
Activity space for a family: daily routine
Circulation, cyclical movements
Most common: going to and from work
Perception and Migration:
Place Utility
 An individual’s existing or anticipated








degree of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with a place.
-Perceptions of the home-site
A. How life is for you in your own
location
-Perceptions of new places based
only on information available to him
or her (FAR and AWAY, movie with
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman)
A. gossip or tales from others, letters
from home that are embellishing
reality
B. media
C. propaganda
D. images that only show a small
percentage of the reality of the place
(Image to the right)
“Push” and “Pull” Factors
 Push factors induce people to move away from
an area.
Pull factors: induced to come to an area
 1. economic: jobs
 2. political/cultural:
-slavery
-political instability
3. environmental:
-pull factors: attractive climates, scenic
-push factors: adverse conditions, flooding,
earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, etc
“Push” and “Pull” Factors
 Distance decay

Step migration
 Intervening
opportunity
Catalysts of migration
 Economic conditions
 Political circumstances
 Armed conflict and civil war
 Environmental conditions
 Culture and tradition
 Technological advances
 Flow of information
Theories about migration
 Ravenstein’s “laws” of migration





Net migration is a fraction of gross migration
between two places
The majority of migration is short
If move longer distances, then big-city
Urban dwellers less migratory than rural
Families less likely to move internationally than
young adults
Theories about migration
 The Gravity model


Loosely based on Newton
“Migrant flow from one place to another is
proportional to the product of their populations”



Higher population = more migrant flow
Lower population = less migrant flow
Has its flaws, but also applications through
mathematical manipulation
What hinders migration?
 Intervening obstacles:
 An environmental or cultural feature that hinders
migration.
 Example: pioneers hindered from getting to
California by the Great Plains, the Rocky Mts.
Or a desert.
 Example: The Atlantic Ocean, the interior of
Africa
 Today: government policies that restrict visas
Voluntary migrations
 Voluntary migration
 Generate a return
 Represents the
numbers going from
the source to the
destination minus
those returning to the
source
Internal Migration:
interregional and intraregional
 China: What kind?
Internal migration. What Kind?

In US, AfricanAmericans moved
northward during WW I
 Rural
 Return to South
 Perceived
opportunities in South
Rural to urban: the most common intraregional (internal) migration
globally in LDCs
In MDCs the most common form of intraregional migration is urban to
suburban areas.
Internal migration changes demographic makeup over time.
Internal Migrations
 Internal migrations



In the United States, has carried
the center of population westward
and southward
In US, African-Americans moved
northward during WW I
 Rural
 Return to South
 Perceived opportunities in
South
Eastward migration in Russia
 Pattern?
Railroads and feeder lines;
established Vladivostok
 Post-Soviet regime
External Migration: International
 External migration:
Moving from one
country to another,
crossing international
borders
Brain Drain: when highly educated people migrate to
another country for better opportunities.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/12/philippines_hav.html
 Many highly educated people
from the Philippine Islands
migrate to the U.S. to work
because they can improve their
standard of living. In the video,
nurses in the P.I. make $500 a
year compared to $2,000 a
month in the U.S. when they
migrate.
 What type of push and pull
factor would this be?
Forced Migrations
Forced Migrations
-Native Americans (1800s)
-French Acadians from Grand Pres,
Nova Scotia 1755
British convicts (1788) and how it
affects the current demographics
The Migration Process:
Major modern migrations pre-1950
The Migration Process
 European Emigration
 Greatest migration in
recent history
-Colonies
-1840-1850 NW Europe
-1880-1890 NW Europe
-1900-1920 SE Europe
OTHER NET-IN
MIGRATION
-1960-1970s Asia
-1980 on Latin America
Most documented immigrants to the U.S.: Mexico
Most undocumented immigrants to the U.S.: Mexico
1980s-present most immigrants come from Latin America
Illegal immigration from Mexico to
the United States.
Worldwide migration to the U.S.
Short video resources about Mexican immigration to the
U.S.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/mexico/
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/watch/player.html?pkg=70
4_crimes&seg=1&mod=0
Example of Chinese international migration in
Southeast Asia
Post-1945 External Migrations
 Flow of Jewish immigrants
to Israel



Palestine, 1900 vs. 1948
Formation of Israel
Now a flashpoints
The United Nations official definition of a refugee is a person that
crosses an international border but unofficially, most refugees are
internally displaced persons, or IDPs, and stay within their home
country.
Migration and Dislocation:
The Refugee Problem
 Large population movements tend to produce
major social problems




World’s refugee population proportionately has
grown faster than its total population
In 1970, the world had about 2.9 million refugees
In 2000, the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees reported some 24 million people
qualified as refugees
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home
Migration and Dislocation:
The Refugee Problem
 Uncertain dimensions

Who is a refugee?

Refugees or poor & desperate?
Palestinians: in Jordan & Lebanon
Identifiable by at least three characteristics:
1. Move without any more tangible property than they
can carry with them
2. First “step” on foot, by bicycle, wagon, or open boat
3. Move without official documents


Migration and Dislocation:
The Refugee Problem
 Regions of dislocation






Sub-Saharan Africa
North Africa and Southwest Asia
South Asia
Southeast Asia
Europe
Elsewhere
More Frontline videos to watch on refugee situations:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sudan/
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2008/10/rwanda_after_th.html
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/22/18299463.php
Podcast about Rebels in Darfur
http://www.migrationinformation.org/
Resources







De Blij, Harm, J. (2007). Human Geography People, Place and
Culture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Domosh, Mona, Neumann, Roderic, Price, Patricia, & JordanBychkov, 2010. The Human Mosaic, A Cultural Approach to Human
Geography. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.
Fellman, Jerome, D., Getis, Arthur, & Getis, Judith, 2008.
Human Geography, Landscapes of Human Activities. Boston, MA:
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Pulsipher, Lydia Mihelic and Alex M. and Pulsipher, 2008. World
Regional Geography, Global Patterns, Local Lives. W.H. Freeman
and Company New York.
Rubenstein, James M. (2008). An introduction to human
geography The cultural landscape. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Prentice Hall.
Benewick, Robert, & Donald, Stephanie H. (2005). The State of
China Atlas. Berkeley: University of California Press.