MIG - Introduction to Migration Lesson

Introduction to Migration

Types of Movement

  1. Mobility is simply movement from one place to another.
    1. Circulation is short-term, regular movement.
    2. Migration is a permanent movement across a boundary (local or global)

Types of Circulation

  1. Repetitive movements can include:  
    1. Cyclic movement occurs on a daily or weekly basis within the territory near a person's home
      1. Commuting to school, work, church, etc.
    2. Seasonal (Periodic) occurs when people move with specific seasons or at specific times of the year
      1. College students
      2. Snow Birds  (people who spend half the year in a warm climate and half the year in a cooler climate)
      3. Military service members
    3. Transhumance is the movement of livestock based on the availability of food
      1. Usually hillside to pastures and vice versa
      2. This occurs in less developed and agriculturally based countries

Types of Migration

  1. Migration is the permanent movement of people
    1. Countermigration is an opposite flow of emigration to immigration
  2. Emigration , migration from a location (out-migration)
  3. Immigration , migration to a location (in-migration)
  4. Net Migration is simply the difference between these two types of migration
    1. Net In-Migration means more people have moved to a place
      1. North America, Oceania, Western and Northern Europe
    2. Net Out-Migration means more people have moved from a place
      1. Asia (all regions), Africa (all regions), Latin America

Effects of Migration

  1. The Demographic Equation is used to calculate all of the growth in a nation
    1. P1 = P0 + B - D + I - E (the population of a country for the next year can be predicated based on the population from the previous year plus birth and minus deaths and plus immigration and minus emigration)
  2. Migration patterns are important for demographic predictions
  3. Movement of people from point A to point B create migration streams
    1. These in turn create migration counterstreams
      1. Movement out of point B (to A or another location)

Ravenstein's Laws of Migration

  1. In the late 19th century English geographer Ernst Ravenstein created eleven "laws" of migration.
  2. Modern migration patterns are still based on some of these principles (but not all of the rules still hold true):
    1. Most migrants go short distances (within the same nation)
      1. Distance decay - The further a location is the less likely a person is to move there (or interact with that location) due to the friction of distance. This is still an issue for many migrants, but technology and transportation are lessening the issues of distance.
    2. Long distance migration usually involves a large city (gravity model)
    3. Rural populations are more likely to move to urban areas
    4. Individuals are more likely to migrate than families
    5. Every migration causes a counterstream
    6. Ravenstein's laws focused on:
      1. Reasons, Distance and Characteristics of Migrants

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS