Unit 5

Question 1

How can the government of a receiving country affect immigration?

Answer 1

Original Answer: The government can influence immigration through policies such as offering work permits, visa programs, and residency opportunities to attract migrants. Alternatively, stricter border controls, immigration quotas, or restrictive policies can deter immigration. These measures shape the ease and desirability of migration to the country.

Simple Terms: The government can make immigration easier by offering work permits or visas or harder by setting quotas or stricter border rules. This affects how many people want to move there.

Question 2

What are some ways potential migrants may receive information about possible destinations?

Answer 2

Original Answer: Potential migrants can gather information about destinations through government agencies that provide migration support, advertisements highlighting opportunities, media reports on living conditions and job availability (via TV, newspapers, or the internet), or by visiting the destination area as a tourist to evaluate conditions.

Simple Terms: Migrants learn about destinations through government programs, advertisements, news, or visiting the area as tourists. This helps them decide where to move.

Question 3

What impacts can migration have on receiving countries?

Answer 3

Original Answer: Migration can bring economic benefits like workforce growth and cultural enrichment. However, it may also strain housing, healthcare, and education services due to increased demand. Social impacts include fostering diversity but also the potential for tensions or xenophobia if integration challenges arise.

Simple Terms: Migration can help the economy by adding workers and bring cultural diversity. It can also cause problems like overcrowding in housing and schools or tensions with local people.

Question 4

How do push and pull factors influence migration decision-making?

Answer 4

Original Answer: Push factors like unemployment, political instability, conflict, or natural disasters drive people to leave their home countries. Pull factors such as higher wages, job opportunities, better living standards, and a safer environment attract migrants to new destinations. These factors collectively shape migration decisions by creating both a need to leave and an appeal to relocate elsewhere.

Simple Terms: Push factors like job loss or danger make people want to leave their country, while pull factors like better jobs or safety make them want to move to a new place.

Question 5

Why are most migrants considered economic migrants?

Answer 5

Original Answer: Most migrants are driven by the need for better economic opportunities, such as higher wages, improved living conditions, and stable employment. These motivations often outweigh other reasons, making economic benefits a dominant factor in migration flows.

Simple Terms: Most people migrate to find better jobs, earn more money, and live in better conditions. These are the main reasons for moving.

Question 6

Why is migration decision-making considered complex and individual?

Answer 6

Original Answer: Migration decision-making involves personal factors such as financial resources, risk tolerance, and family or social ties. Additionally, access to accurate information, perceptions of the destination’s benefits, and individual goals or optimism levels all contribute to unique and complex decisions for each migrant.

Simple Terms: Everyone has different reasons to migrate, like money, family, or how much risk they can handle. These personal factors make migration decisions unique for each person.

Question 7

What is the term “internal migration”?

Answer 7

Original Answer: Internal migration is the movement of people within a country’s borders for one year or more, including rural–urban, urban–rural, urban–urban, and intra-urban movements.

Simple Terms: Internal migration means people moving within their country, like moving from a village to a city or from one neighborhood to another.

Question 8

What are the reasons for an increase in internal migration in many countries?

Answer 8

Original Answer: Reasons include economic opportunities, urbanization, industrialization, agricultural mechanization, environmental pressures, better access to services, and education.

Simple Terms: People migrate more for jobs, education, escaping farming issues, or better services and living conditions.

Question 9

Why may internal migration occur in stages?

Answer 9

Original Answer: It may occur in stages due to factors such as financial constraints, the need to adapt to cultural or linguistic differences, building skills, and using smaller moves to prepare for a final migration.

Simple Terms: Migration happens in steps to save money, adapt to new cultures, or slowly prepare for the final move.

Question 10

Why does urban–rural migration occur in LICs?

Answer 10

Original Answer: In LICs, urban–rural migration often happens due to urban unemployment, overcrowding, high costs of living, and seasonal or temporary returns to rural areas for agriculture or familial responsibilities.

Simple Terms: People in LICs move back to rural areas to escape crowded cities or return for farming and family needs.

Question 11

What is “intra-urban migration”?

Answer 11

Original Answer: Intra-urban migration refers to movement within the same urban area, such as shifting from one neighborhood to another due to employment, housing needs, or changes in urban infrastructure.

Simple Terms: Moving within the same city, like relocating to a new neighborhood or suburb.

Question 12

What are two types of intra-urban migration?

Answer 12

Original Answer: Centripetal flows, such as re-urbanization (movement to the city center), and centrifugal flows, such as suburbanization (movement to the city outskirts).

Simple Terms: Moving to the city center (centripetal) or moving to suburbs (centrifugal).

Question 13

What constraints, obstacles, and barriers may affect internal migration?

Answer 13

Original Answer: These include high costs, lack of affordable transport, lack of information about destinations, intervening opportunities, cultural/language barriers, and family ties.

Simple Terms: Barriers like money, transport, lack of knowledge, language issues, or family commitments make migrating hard.

Question 14

To what extent are push factors more important than pull factors in voluntary migration?

Answer 14

Original Answer: Push factors such as poverty, lack of services, unemployment, and conflict are often more critical, as they force people to migrate, while pull factors like better jobs or education attract migrants.

Simple Terms: Push factors like poverty and lack of jobs force people to leave, while pull factors like better jobs attract them.

Question 15

What is meant by the term “stepped migration”?

Answer 15

Original Answer: Stepped migration involves moving incrementally from a rural area to a small town, then to a larger town or city, often due to financial constraints or the need to adapt to cultural or linguistic challenges gradually.

Simple Terms: Migration happens in steps, like moving from a village to a town and then to a city.

Question 16

Why might push factors influence people to migrate away from large urban areas?

Answer 16

Original Answer: Push factors include high living costs, pollution, overcrowding, inadequate housing, poor quality of life, and lack of employment opportunities in some urban areas.

Simple Terms: Issues like overcrowding, pollution, and high living costs make people leave big cities.

Question 17

How is a person’s age connected to migration?

Answer 17

Original Answer: Young people are more likely to migrate for education, jobs, or adventure, while older adults may migrate for retirement, healthcare, or proximity to family.

Simple Terms: Young people move for jobs or school; older people move for family or retirement.

Question 18

Why may migration take place between rural areas?

Answer 18

Original Answer: Migration between rural areas may occur to access better agricultural land, escape environmental issues (e.g., droughts), or improve living conditions through available opportunities in other rural locations.

Simple Terms: People move to other rural areas for better farmland or to escape problems like drought.

Question 19

What are the social and economic links between rural migrants and the rural areas they left?

Answer 19

Original Answer: Links include remittances sent back to families, continued cultural ties, seasonal return for farming, and sharing of skills or knowledge gained in urban areas.

Simple Terms: Migrants send money, visit for farming seasons, and stay connected culturally.

Question 20

Why might the destination play only a small role in decisions about rural to urban migration?

Answer 20

Original Answer: Rural to urban migration often prioritizes escaping push factors such as poverty, unemployment, and lack of services, making the specific destination less significant.

Simple Terms: People move to cities to escape problems like poverty, so the exact destination matters less.

Question 21

What are the social and economic links between rural migrants now living in urban areas and the rural areas from which they moved?

Answer 21

Original Answer: Rural migrants maintain links through remittances, familial visits, seasonal labor, cultural exchanges, and participation in rural festivals or traditions.

Simple Terms: Migrants send money back, visit family, and help during farming or festivals.

Question 22

To what extent does internal migration bring negative impacts for areas left by migrants?

Answer 22

Original Answer: Internal migration may result in loss of workforce, aging populations, reduced local economic activity, and reduced agricultural productivity in areas left behind.

Simple Terms: Rural areas lose workers and businesses, leaving behind older people and less economic activity.

Question 23

What is one example of refugee migration?

Answer 23

Original Answer: Refugee migration occurs when individuals are forced to flee their home country due to persecution, conflict, violence, or disasters. An example is the Syrian civil war, which has displaced millions of people to neighboring countries like Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Simple Terms: Refugee migration happens when people flee their country because of danger like war or disasters. For example, millions of Syrians fled to Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan due to the Syrian civil war.

Question 24

What is the term “international economic migration”?

Answer 24

Original Answer: International economic migration refers to the movement of people from one country to another to seek better economic opportunities, such as higher-paying jobs or improved living standards. An example includes workers migrating from Mexico to the United States for employment.

Simple Terms: International economic migration is when people move to another country to find better jobs or earn more money. For example, many workers migrate from Mexico to the US for employment.

Question 25

What does the term “international migration” mean?

Answer 25

Original Answer: International migration is the movement of people across national borders to live in another country for at least a year. This can be for reasons such as work, education, or seeking asylum.

Simple Terms: International migration is when people move from one country to another to live there for a year or more. Reasons can include work, school, or escaping danger.

Question 26

What is meant by the term “refugee”?

Answer 26

Original Answer: A refugee is someone forced to flee their home country due to reasons such as war, persecution (based on race, religion, nationality, or political opinion), or natural disasters, and who cannot safely return to their country.

Simple Terms: A refugee is a person forced to leave their home country because of war, persecution, or disasters. They cannot return safely.

Question 27

What are the terms “voluntary migration” and “involuntary (forced) migration”?

Answer 27

Original Answer: Voluntary migration occurs when individuals choose to move, often for better economic or lifestyle opportunities (e.g., moving to another country for work). Involuntary (forced) migration happens when people are compelled to move due to war, persecution, or natural disasters, such as Syrians fleeing civil war.

Simple Terms: Voluntary migration is when people choose to move, like for a better job. Involuntary migration is when people are forced to move, like escaping a war. For example, Syrians fleeing civil war is forced migration.

Question 28

Why might pull factors be more important than push factors in voluntary migration?

Answer 28

Original Answer: Pull factors, such as better job opportunities, higher wages, and quality of life in the destination country, often provide a stronger motivation for migration compared to push factors, like unemployment or poor living conditions in the home country. For instance, migrants may prioritize the benefits of moving to a wealthier country rather than escaping hardships.

Simple Terms: Pull factors like good jobs and better living conditions attract people to new places and can be stronger reasons to migrate than push factors like poverty.

Question 29

How do push factors and pull factors combine to promote migration?

Answer 29

Original Answer: Push factors, such as war, famine, or unemployment, create the need for people to leave their home countries. Pull factors, such as job opportunities, safety, or better education, attract them to specific destinations. Together, they drive migration by pushing individuals away from negative conditions and pulling them toward more favorable ones.

Simple Terms: Push factors like war or unemployment make people want to leave their country, and pull factors like safety or jobs attract them to new places. Both work together to drive migration.

Question 30

To what extent is economic migration beneficial to both sending and receiving countries?

Answer 30

Original Answer: Economic migration can be beneficial by reducing unemployment in the sending country and providing remittances, which boost the home economy. For receiving countries, migrants fill labor shortages and contribute taxes. However, sending countries may suffer from “brain drain,” and receiving countries may face challenges like job competition and strain on public services.

Simple Terms: Economic migration helps sending countries by reducing unemployment and gaining remittances. It helps receiving countries by filling job shortages. But it can cause “brain drain” in sending countries and job competition in receiving countries.

Question 31

How can culture act as a barrier to acceptance and integration of immigrants?

Answer 31

Original Answer: Cultural differences, such as language, traditions, food, or religion, can create misunderstandings or tensions between migrants and host populations. For example, migrants who cannot speak the local language may struggle to integrate, and differing social norms may hinder acceptance.

Simple Terms: Differences in language, food, religion, or traditions can make it harder for migrants to fit in and for locals to accept them. For example, not speaking the local language can be a big challenge.

Question 32

How do positive and negative factors affect whether people migrate within a country?

Answer 32

Original Answer: Positive factors, like job prospects, better living conditions, or access to education, attract people to migrate. Negative factors, such as poor infrastructure, unemployment, or natural disasters, push people to leave their current location. The combination of these factors influences migration decisions.

Simple Terms: Positive factors like jobs and better schools attract people to move, while negative factors like poor living conditions or lack of work push people to leave their area.

Question 33

What are some obstacles faced by people who migrate internationally?

Answer 33

Original Answer: Migrants face several obstacles, including language barriers, lack of qualifications, discrimination, difficulty finding work, fear of arrest or deportation if they are undocumented, and cultural adjustment challenges in the host country.

Simple Terms: Migrants face problems like learning a new language, discrimination, low pay, and fear of being deported if they are undocumented. They may also struggle to find good jobs or adjust to new cultures.

Question 34

What are the impacts on source and destination areas of migration?

Answer 34

Original Answer: Source areas benefit from remittances sent by migrants but may experience “brain drain” and loss of labor. Destination areas gain labor supply and tax revenue but may face increased demand on services like healthcare, cultural tensions, or resentment over perceived job competition.

Simple Terms: Source areas benefit from money sent home by migrants but lose skilled workers (“brain drain”). Destination areas get more workers but may face strain on services like schools and healthcare and cultural tensions.

Question 35

Why might HICs encourage immigration?

Answer 35

Original Answer: High-income countries (HICs) encourage immigration to address labor shortages, fill jobs in specific sectors like healthcare or IT, boost economic growth, and counteract aging populations by increasing the workforce.

Simple Terms: High-income countries (HICs) encourage immigration to fill jobs they can’t fill locally, boost their economies, or deal with an aging population by adding younger workers.