Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another and the intentions of settling to the new location can either be permanent or temporary. This type of movement usually covers a long distance, probably from one country to another.
Nomadic movements are not considered as migration as their intention is not to settle in any new place but it’s all seasonal. Infact, there are very few nomadic people following this form lifestyle in this modern era. If people move temporary for pilgrimages or tourism this will not regarded as migration because the intention is to live or settle.
It is an important component of population change and among human beings is not biological but it is social, cultural, political or economic. The most important cause of migration is economic and political. The migration from India and Afghanistan to Pakistan is due to political reasons. It is voluntary as well as compulsory. The migration from rural to urban occurs within the country. In western countries migration is sometime from urban to rural areas. All these different types of migration brings important changes in a population.
Migration Definition
- Donald I.Bogue: “Migration among human beings in contrast to migration among animals, that, it is a response of human organisms to economic, social nad demographic forces in the environment”.
- United Nation Multilingual Demographic Dictionary: “Migration is a form of geographical mobility or special mobility between one geographical unit and another or a change in residence from the place of origin or the place of departure to the place of destination or place of arrival”.
Types of Migration
There are many types of migrations and many people are not aware of these types. Below we have discussed the most common ones:
- Internal Migration: It is the type in which you move to a new home within the same state, country or continent. A person move to another administrative territory.
- External Migration: It is the type in which you move to a new home in a different state, country or continent.
- Emigration: It is the type in which you leave one country and move to another one.
- Immigration: It is the process in which you move to a new country.
- Population Transfer: It is the type in which the government forces a huge group of people to leave a region on the basis of religion or ethnicity. It is also called the involuntary or the force migration.
- Impelled/Imposed: It is the type of movement in which people are forced to leave a country because of unfavorable situations like religious persecution, political unrest or warfare.
- Step Migration: It involves series of short and less extreme movements from the place of origin to the destination.
- Return Migration: It is the voluntary movement of the immigrants to the place of origin.
- Seasonal Migration: It is the movement for a specific period of time in response to the climate conditions or labor conditions.
- Chain Migration: It is the type of movement which begins from one member of the family who arranges money for his family members in order to make them move to a new location.
Causes of Migration
There are certain pull factors and push factors that become the cause of movement. Let’s explore them:
Pull factors: Many people like to move to countries like Ireland, UK and USA. Most of us know the reason why. These are basically the pull factors. It is because of industrial development, labor that is looking for work, cheap international transport relative to income, easy access of information due to telephone and internet. Other reasons include falling birth rates, rapid economic expansion, better job opportunities and more.
Push factors: These are the negative factors in the home country that compel people to move to another one. Such factors include poverty, high unemployment rate, internal conflicts and wars, natural diseases, low income, lack of career development, famine and climate control.
It can be said that movement occurs because the 4 common reasons:
- Economic conditions that come in the career pathway of the individual
- Social prosperity like looking for better quality of life
- Political unrest or war
- Environmental conditions like floods or natural disasters
Migration Examples
If you just open the history, you will find tons of examples of migration. Those are not just the minor ones, but you will find the great migration instances too. Here are some of the examples:
- Atlantic Salve Trade in which 10.24 million Africans were forced to migrate. This African migration started from 1650 and it lasted till 1900.
- Partition of India is also a common example. Migrations took place between India and Pakistan. Up to 10 to 12 million people migrated to the new homeland. It was a political migration.
- The movement due to great famine of Ireland which we know by the name Ireland Potato Famine is an example of environmental migration. This was the period of massive unrest in the country because diseases and starvation were widespread.
