Chapter 3 : Migration (Part 1) Key Issues
• Where are migrants distributed?
• Where do people migrate within a
country?
Migration
• Mobility is most generalized term that
refers to all types of movements
– Journeying each day to work or school
– Weekly visits to local shops
– Annual trips to visit relatives who live in a
different state
• Short-term and repetitive acts of mobility
are referred to as circulation.
– Ex. College students moving to college each
fall and returning home each spring
Migration
• A permanent move to a new location
constitutes migration.
– Emigration is migration from a location.
– Immigration is migration to a location.
• Place “A” can have individuals migrating away
from and to it.
– Emigrant: Place A → Place B
– Immigrant: Place B → Place A
• Difference between the number of
immigrants and number emigrants is a
place’s net migration.
Distance of Migration
• Ravenstein’s laws for the distance that
migrants typically move
– Most migrants relocate a short distance and
remain within the same country.
– Long-distance migrants to other countries
head for major centers of economic activity.
Distance of Migration
• Migration can be divided into two
categories.
1. International Migration- permanent move
from one country to another
• Voluntary
• Forced
2. Internal Migration- permanent move within
the same country
• Interregional
• Intraregional
International Migration Patterns
• Approximately 9 percent of the world’s
people are international migrants.
• Global pattern reflects migration
tendencies from developing countries to
developed countries.
– Net Out-Migration
• Asia, Latin America, and Africa
– Net In-Migration
• North America, Europe, and Oceania
U.S. Immigration Patterns
• U.S. has more foreign-born residents than
any other country: approximately 43
million as of 2010—growing by 1 million
annually.
• Three main eras of immigration in the U.S.
– Colonial settlement in seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries
– Mass European immigration in the late 19 th
and early twentieth centuries
– Asian and Latin American integration in the
late Twentieth and early twenty-first centuries
Where Do People Migrate within a Country?
• Interregional Migration
– Perceived economic betterment typically
compels individuals to make interregional
migrations.
• Historically- enticement of abundant available land
on the American Frontier.
• Presently- most jobs, especially in services, are
clustered in urban areas.
– Westward expansion contributed to a shift in
the center of population.
• “Center of population gravity”
Migration between Regions in Large
Countries
• World’s five largest countries in land area
are Russia, Canada, China, the U.S., and
Brazil.
– Russia: Interregional migration was
encouraged eastward and northward by the
government’s decision to locate new factories
and to offer economic incentives away from
existing population concentrations.
Migration between Regions in Large
Countries
– Canada: Shares a similar east to west
interregional migration pattern with the U.S.
Three westernmost provinces are destinations
for interregional migrants.
– China: Nearly 100 million people have
emigrated from rural interior to large urban
areas along east coast where manufacturing is
prevalent.
– Brazil: Government moved its capital from Rio
De Janeiro to Brasília (600 miles from Atlantic
Coast) to encourage migration of Atlantic coast
residents to move to the interior.
Intraregional Migration
• Since Industrial Revolution began in
Europe in nineteenth century, a global
trend for individuals to migrate from rural
to urban areas
– Percentage of urbanized population in U.S.
• 1800: 5 percent
• 1920: 50 percent
• 2010: 80 percent
– Motivated by economic advancement
Intraregional Migration
• Most intraregional migration in developed
countries is from cities out to surrounding
suburbs.
– Motivated not by economic advancement but
by a desired lifestyle
• Additional privacy associated with single-family
detached houses
• Garages and driveways offer parking at no
additional fee
• Often superior suburban schools
Intraregional Migration
• Developed countries experienced a new
migration trend during the late twentieth
century when rural areas were
characterized by net in-migration.
– Net migration from urban to rural areas is
called counterurbanization.
• Counterurbanization most prevalent in
places rich with natural amenities
– Rocky Mountain States (Colorado, Idaho,
Utah, and Wyoming)
