Migration – Geography – UGC NET – Notes

Humanity has been practising migration since the beginning of time. Some people relocate in quest of work or better economic prospects, to be closer to family, or to further their education. Others relocate to avoid conflict, persecution, terrorism, or breaches of human rights. There are currently over 258 million migrants residing outside of their home countries around the world. For a variety of factors, including population growth, increased connection, trade, rising inequality, demographic imbalances, and climate change, this amount is anticipated to rise. For migrants, host communities, and communities of origin, migration offers enormous opportunities and advantages. However, if it is not well regulated, it might pose serious problems.

Meaning of Migration

• The movement of people from one area to another, or from one country to another, is referred to as migration.
• Migration occurs when a person or a group of people moves from one location to another, usually across political and administrative borders.
• The rate of migration has an impact on a region’s population growth by increasing or decreasing the number of people who live there.
• Permanent, temporary, and daily migration are all the multi domains of migration.
• Migration is the third factor for changes in the population, the other being birth rate and death rate. As compared to birth rate and death rate, migration affects the size of population differently. Migration is not a biological event like birth rate and death rate, but is influenced by the social, cultural, economic and political factors.
• Migration is carried by the decision of a person or group of persons. The changes occurring in the birth rate and death rate do not affect the size and structure of the population on a large scale, while migration, at any time, may cause large scale changes in the size and structure of the population.
• The study of migration is of vital importance because the birth rate, death rate and migration determine the size of population, the population growth rate and thus the structure of population. In addition, migration plays an important role in determining the distribution of population and supply of labour in the country.
• Thus, the study of migration is also useful for formulating economic and other policies by the government, economists, sociologists, politicians, and planners along with demographers
• Migration shows the trends of social changes. From the historical viewpoint during the process of industrialisation and economic development, people migrate from farms to industries, from villages to cities, from one city to another and from one country to another. In modern times, technological changes are taking place in Asia, Africa and Latin America due to which these regions are witnessing large-scale migration from rural to urban areas.
• Economists are interested in the study of migration because migration affects the supply of skilled and semi-skilled labourers, development of industries and commerce causing changes in the employment structure of the migrated people. Formulation of economic policies has a close relation with the process of migration because migration affects the economic and social development of a country.
• Out of the many side effects of the population growth in India and other developing countries, an important effect of industrialisation and economic development is the internal migration of the population on a large scale, which has drawn the attention of planners and formulaters of economic policies. Thus, migration is a demographic event, whose long term effects fall on the socio-economic and cultural development of any region or country.
• Migration is the movement of people between regions or countries. It is the process of changing one’s place of residence and permanently living in a region or country. According to the Demographic Dictionary of United Nations, “Migration is such an event in which people move from one geographical area to another geographical area. When people leaving their place of residence go to live permanently in another area then this is called migration.”
• Migration may be permanent or temporary with the intention of returning to the place of origin in future.

Concepts Relating to Migration

Besides, the following concepts are used in migration:

• Migration Stream: Migration stream means the total number of people migrating from one region to another or from one country to another for residing during a time period. It is, in fact, related to the movement of people from a common area of origin to a common area of a destination. For example, migration of Indians to America during a time interval.
• Migration Interval: Migration may occur continuously over a period of time. But to measure it correctly, the data should be divided into intervals of one to five or more years. The division relating to a particular period is known as migration interval.
• Place of Origin and Place of Destination: The place which people leave is the place of origin and the person is called an out-migrant. On the other hand, the place of destination is the place where the person moves and the person is called an in-migrant.
• Migrant: Migrant is the labour which moves to some region or country for short periods of time, say several months or a few years. It is regarded as a secondary labour force.

Factors Responsible for Migration

• Employment: The search for better employment in industries, trade, transportation, and services is the primary reason for intrastate, interstate (migration from rural to urban areas, and urban to urban areas) and external migration.
• Seasonal Migration: People migrate for work in various areas and industries on a seasonal basis.
• People from drought-prone areas, for example, migrate seasonally to work in brickmaking, construction, tile factories, and agricultural work.
• The temporary and usually repetitive movement of a migrant worker between home and host areas, usually for the purpose of employment, is known as circular migration or repeat migration.
• Education: People migrate to urban areas in the case of internal migration and to other countries in the case of international migration for better academic opportunities due to a lack of educational facilities in their home country.
• By 2020, India will have the world’s largest pool of young people; however, there is a lack of job opportunities in India, which leads to qualified people emigrating.
• Lack of security: Political unrest and inter-ethnic strife are also factors that contribute to internal and external migration.
• Forced displacement can also occur as a result of events such as wars and internal political unrest.
• Marriage: Marriage is an important social factor for intra-state migration, and the majority of intra-state migrants migrate from one rural area to another due to marriage in the case of females.
• Environmental and disaster-related factors: Some migrants are forced to relocate from rural to urban areas or from one country to another as a result of environmental disasters such as droughts, floods, and heat waves, which may have destroyed their homes and farms.

Causes of Migration

• People are generally emotionally attached to their birthplace. However, millions of people leave their homes and birthplaces.
• There could be a number of reasons for this. These reasons can be divided into two groups:
• Pull factors, which attract people from different places, and Push factors, which cause people to leave their place of origin or residence.
• People in India migrate from rural to urban areas for a variety of reasons, including poverty, high population pressure on the land, and a lack of basic infrastructures such as health care and education.
• Natural disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclonic storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, and local conflicts, in addition to these factors, provide an additional push to migrate.
• People from rural areas, on the other hand, are drawn to cities by a variety of factors.
• The majority of rural migrants to urban areas are attracted by better opportunities, the availability of regular work, and relatively higher wages.
• Better educational opportunities, health care facilities, and entertainment options, among other things, are all significant pull factors.