5.1 Migration as a Component of Population Change

Question 1

Define migration

Answer 1

• Migration is the movement of populations
• For more than one year

Question 2

What causes migration

Answer 2

• According to Lee’s model of migration, if the percieved (push and pull) factors are strong enought to overcome INTERVENING OBSTACLES, migration will occur
• Intervening obstacles include: cost of moving, disruption of social networks, documentation, physical distance to travel

Question 3

State all 9 ESPE push/pull factors
(3E, 3S, 1P, 2E,

Answer 3

• Unemployment/potential for employment
• Crop failure/fertile land
• Poverty/greater wealth
• A lack of services/better service provision
• Poor safety and security/a safer atmosphere
• High crime rates/low crime rates
• War
• Droughts
• Floods

Question 4

Explain + EXAMPLE how economic factors are normally pull factors

Answer 4

• Punjab is not the poorest region of India but people sell or mortgage land and raise as much money as they can to get better opportunities in the UK
• Same situation with Poland - 1 million Polish people have come to the UK to work

Question 5

Explain + EXAMPLE how political factors are normally push factors

Answer 5

• In 2015 over a million people migrated from the middle east and north africa
• The civil war in syria and the rise of ISIS was a clear push factor

Question 6

Explain chain migration: what is it, why does it make it easier for others and what can often happen?

Answer 6

• After one or a small number of pioneering migrants have led the way, others from the same rural community follow
• Chain migration reduces barriers to movement, with increasing flows of information and help available in the destination to settle and find work as the original migrant first sends for his wife and children, then encourages close relatives to join and later friends.
• Further to this, for every migration stream, a counter-stream at a lower volume usually results as some migrants dissatisfied with their destination return home

Question 7

Example of chain migration

Answer 7

• Punjab-Southall

Question 8

The role of constraints: Describe obstacles and barriers to migration

Answer 8

• PHYSICAL: distance, barriesrs like mountains, rivers, oceans, deserts and poor transport links
• SOCIAL/ECONOMIC: Lack of money for closing up costs in source, travel costs/smuggling fees for people and possessions, opening up costs in destination such as rent, furniture and legal fees
• POLITICAL/LEGAL: international borders with strict immigration controls - need for passports, exit or entry visas and work permits. civil war, persecution of minorities

Question 9

The role of constraints: Explain economic obstacles and barriers to migration - cost of leaving

Answer 9

• ‘Closing up’ old life - may need to pay estate agents to sell property, pay for possessions to be packed and shipped, costs vary according to value of the estate
• LICs: monetary value small, personal value high
• HICs, higher costs of estate agent fees, legal fees etc

Question 10

The role of constraints: Explain economic obstacles and barriers to migration - cost of travelling

Answer 10

• Depends on mode of transport needed/ time taken/ distance travelled - flights/ train/ bus tickets, smugglers if illegal
• It may take the combined savings of an extended family to pay people smugglers to transport one family member to a HIC

Question 11

The role of constraints: Explain economic obstacles and barriers to migration - cost of resettling

Answer 11

• ‘Opening up’ costs of new life - have to buy many basic possessions again (furniture, kitchenware etc that was left behind)
• Cost of rent or mortgage may be higher in destination, particularly if urban (unless live with relatives or in a shanty/ informal settlement)

Question 12

The role of constraints: Explain economic obstacles and barriers to migration - legal costs

Answer 12

• May also cost money to obtain visas, renew visas and seek citizenship

Question 13

The role of constraints: Explain economic obstacles and barriers to migration - opportunity costs

Answer 13

• May get an offer of a job/ better life closer to home so don’t need to move as far

Question 14

The role of constraints: Explain economic obstacles and barriers to migration - training and education costs

Answer 14

• May not be able to afford costs of studying to qualify for the types of job that are available at desired destination, to be able to get a work permit

Question 15

Patterns of migration: Do women undertake more short or long distance internal migration. Why? Give examples

Answer 15

• Women undertake more short distance internal migration
• They migrate often for marriage and domestic service
• Pakistan - many marriage related, Bangladesh - 56% of female migration is across rural areas for marriage

Question 16

Patterns of migration: Give some statistics in 1960, 2000 and 2020 between migration of men and women
Also, percentage of migrants who are male between 20-59

Answer 16

• In 2020, there were 271 million migrants - 130m female and 141m male, 52% are male and 48% are female
• Both have increased over time - 1960: there were 35m female and 40m male, 2000: 85m female and 90m male
• The average percentage of women migrating at 20-59 years old is below 50% of migrants (i.e. more men that women migrate at this age), however above this age the percentage of women migrants is higher

Question 17

Patterns of migration: Economic push and pull factors for female migration

Answer 17

• Primarily the jobs women migrate to do are domestic work, health, child and aged care
• In larger growing economies in Asia, Latin America and Africa, many females from depressed rural areas move to cities for these dometic caring jobs, but also working in textile and garment factories

Question 18

Patterns of migration: Social push and pull factors for female migration

Answer 18

• Although decreasing in number, many women join their husbands’ household upon marriage
• Often referred as the ‘servants of globalisation’ because many go abroad to serve families of higher social status, and leave others to take care of their family

Question 19

Patterns of migration: Why is there less female migration

Answer 19

• Lower lack of resources - money, network and language
• Generall more available to males in many societies

Question 20

Explain ideas of perception vs reality: Perception better than reality: SHORT VS LONG DISTANCES, RURAL TO URBAN

Answer 20

• The Todaro model argues that people are generally quite relaistic in their decision making rather than dreaming of streets paved with gold
• If there is large counter-flows then it is likely that perception was not aligned with reality
• If small, push factors were likely very severe
• Information: as more and more generations migrate, more and more information is passed down (chain migration)
  EXAMPLE: Punjab to Southall where perceptions of available work, money and housing were clearly outdated by 2013, yet people were still paying huge sums to people smugglers to get to the UK

Question 21

Explain ideas of perception vs reality: perception worse than reality: SHORT VS LONG DISTANCES

Answer 21

• A survey found that people in western Kenya guessed that the average worker in Nairobi earns about twice as much as the average worker in Bungoma, a small town near the border with Uganda. In fact, the Nairobian makes four times as much
• Urban Kenyan incomes are higher even after accounting for costlier rent and rood, and even when comparing wages in similar jobs
• Why do rural folk underestimate the rewards of working in a city Well, people in the city do not want to expose the kind of money they have, for fear they will be overwhelmed by requests for

Question 22

Explain ideas of perception vs reality:
Both! ROLE OF FAMILY TIES

Answer 22

• There can be a temptation to downplay the negatives of their move and exaggerate the positives to gain status (Punjab to Southall example), with the building of migrant mansions in particular encouraging false perceptions of just how much they are earning - land is much cheaper in the Punjab than Southall.
• The ‘planes on the roof’ act as a further inducement/advertisement for emigration
• Equally it has been discovered (see above) that many rural to urban migrants downplay how much they earn in cities to deter relatives from asking them for more money!

Question 23

Explain ideas of perception vs reality: Perception better than reality:
role of media

Answer 23

• TV shows like ‘Husbands of Lagos’, for example, mostly portray people enjoying a glamorous urban lifestyle and are unlikely to show rag picking on landfill sites!
• Conversely, people in the UK are exposed to programmes like ‘Escape to the Country’ which may encourage them to move from urban to rural areas where houses are larger and cheaper and there is less pollution
• BUT, the price to be paid may be hours of commuting, lack of services and isolation from friends and family.