3.1 Why People Migrate A starting point in studying migration


is to ask the question: Why do people migrate? Typically, the answer is due to a combination of push factors and pull factors.


Push Factors


As the term suggests, push factors refer to the reasons that pushed the migrants from their donor countries. Some of the main push factors are:


Unemployment


Regions with high levels of unemployment tend to experience emigration. An example of this would be the high levels of emigration experienced in Ireland in the years following the economic recession that began in 2008. Emigration levels peaked between April 2011 and April 2012, when 46,500 people left the country.


Poverty


Poverty and lack of opportunities force people to migrate to regions with better opportunities and a higher standard of living. Recent trends indicate that this usually occurs in the form of Rural–urban migration.


Overpopulation


As we have already seen in Chapter 2, overpopulation (e.g. in the Sahel region) has forced people to migrate.


War, Violence and Civil Unrest Europe is currently experiencing one of the largest influxes of immigrants and refugees in its history. Much of this is as a result of civil war and terror occurring in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2015 alone, more than 1 million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe – 80 per cent of whom arrived by boat.


Religious/Racial Persecution


Many people flee countries in which there is political instability or there are extreme views regarding religious practice or ethnicity. Well-known examples of this include the persecution of Jewish people in Nazi Germany or the persecution of black people by the former apartheid regime in South Africa.


Natural/Human-made Disasters


Natural disasters are capable of causing widespread migration. Examples of this include the Ireland’s Great Famine (1845–9), the Ethiopian famine in 2011 or the flooding disasters of Pakistan in 2010.


: Fig. 3.2 Migration occurs because of push factors and pull factors.


The idea that migration is caused by dividing factors into two groups (push factors and pull factors) was devised by Everett S. Lee in 1966 in a paper entitled A Theory of Migration.


GEO DICTIONARY


Apartheid: a system of segregation or discrimination on the grounds of race


Ethnicity: belonging to a group of people with a collective identity


In April 2008, the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern noted in his resignation speech that he was proud to have ‘delivered a modern economy with sustainable growth in employment and brought an end to the days of forced emigration’. Less than six months later, Ireland’s emigration rate had increased by 350 per cent.


MIGRATION 69 Job opportunity


Natural disasters


Better health care Push factors Famine War


Few jobs


Safety


Pull factors Education


A


Z


Elective 5: Human CHAPTER 3


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