Test #2 – Population & Migration
1. What is counter-urbanisation and what are the five reasons it happens? (pg 26-27)
• Counter urbanisation is said to occur when an urban area starts losing its
population or when there is decrease in the population of an urban area. In other
words when population loss of urban core exceeds the population gain of the
ring of agglomeration resulting in loss in overall population then counter
urbanisation is said to take place. In simple terms, “Counter Urbanisation” is a
term used to describe the movement of people out of cities and into rural areas.
• The factors that have resulted in counter urbanization are increasing population,
limited land to satisfy the needs of growing population, overpopulation and
migration. Those people are leaving cities do so for economic, social and
environmental reasons.
1. Employment- As industry has decline in inner city areas, it has relocated
on edge-of city sites or smaller rural towns. People move from promotion,
for better-paid jobs or simply to find a job. The increase in footloose and
high-tech industries means that many firms now have a much freer choice
in where they located.
2. Housing- When people become more affluent they are likely to move
from the high-density small terraced houses and high-rise flats of the
inner city to larger, modern houses with better indoor amenities, garages
and gardens.
3. Changing family status- People move as result of an increase in family
wealth or family size.
4. Environmental factors- These include moving away from the noise, air
and usual pollution created by increasing traffic and declining industry in
large urban areas to quieter, less polluted environments with more open
space.
5. Social factors- People may move out of cities due to prejudice against
neighbors and ethnic groups, an above- average local crime and
vandalism rate, or poorer educational facilities.
2. List the Old Commonwealth Countries and the New Commonwealth countries. (pg
24) Examples of voluntary migration and forced migration. (pg 22)
❖ A small proportion of immigrants have come from old commonwealth
(Australia, New Zealand and Canada) and are descendants of earlier
British migrants to those countries.
❖ The largest proportion are the new commonwealth immigrants from
former British colonies in the Indian subcontinent (Indian, Pakistan and
Bangladesh), Africa (Nigeria) and the west Indies (Jamaica).
❖ Voluntary Migration Examples;
1. Employment- Either to find a job, to ear a higher salary or to avoid
paying tax.
2. Pioneers developing new areas
3. Trade and economic expansion
4. Territorial expansion
5. Better climate, especially on retirement
6. Social amenities such as hospital, schools and entertainment
7. To be with friends and relatives
❖ Forced Migration Examples;
1. Religious and/or political persecution
2. Wars, creating large numbers of refugees
3. Forced labour as slaves or prisoners of war
4. Racial discrimination
5. Lack of food due to famine
6. Natural disasters cause by floods, droughts, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions or hurricanes
7. Overpopulation, when the number of people living in an area
exceeds the resources available to them
3. What are the different pull and push factors of migration?
❖ There are many economic, social and physical reasons why people
emigrate and they can usually be classified into push and pull factors.
What are push and pull factors?
❖ Push factors are those associated with the area of origin
❖ Pull factors are those that are associated with the area of destination
Economic reasons
Economic motives loom large in all human movements, but are particularly important
with regards to migration.
Pull Factors
❖ More jobs
❖ Better jobs
❖ Higher wages
❖ The promise of a “better life”
Sometimes this is encouraged by the destination country for example, the 1960’s
employment campaign in the Caribbean by London bus companies that actively
recruited young men to move to London to work as bus drivers, who were then often
followed by their families.
Another example might be the “brain drain” to America that occurred in the latter half
of the 20th century from several other western countries.
Push Factors
Economic push factors tend to be the exact reversal of the pull factors:
❖ Overpopulation
❖ Few jobs
❖ Low wages
This lack of economic opportunity tends to push people to look for their futures
outside the area of their origin.
An example of this is the migration of Mexicans and people from other Central
American countries into the US, where they often work low-wage, long-hour jobs in
farming, construction and domestic labour.
It’s difficult to classify this case purely with push factors though, because often the
factors associated with the country of origin are just as important as the factors
associated with the country of destination.
Forced migration has also been used for economic gain, such as the 20 million men,
women and children who were forcibly carried as slaves to the Americas between the
16th and 18th centuries.
Social reasons
Social reasons tend to involve forced migration
Pull factors
❖ Principles of religious tolerance
❖ For example the US attracted religious refugees, such as the Mennonites, who
settled in Pennsylvania.
Push factors
❖ Intolerance towards a certain cultural group
❖ Active religious persecution
Examples being the Huguenots in 16th century France, the Puritans in 17th century
England and the Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.
Physical reasons
Pull factors
❖ Attractive environments, such as mountains, seasides and warm climates
❖ For example the Alps pull French people to eastern France. Spain attracts
migrants, especially retirees, who seek warmer winters
Natural disasters
Push factors
❖ Examples would be the east African drought of 2011 and the mass exodus from
the island of Montserrat leading up to the eruption of the *La Soufriere Hills
volcano in 1995, which led to two thirds of the population abandoning the island.
4. How do you calculate natural population growth?
• Births and deaths are natural causes of population change. The difference
between the birth rate and the death rate of a country or place is called the
natural increase. The natural increase is calculated by subtracting the death rate
from the birth rate.
• Natural increase = birth rate – death rate
• The rate of natural increase is given as a percentage, calculated by dividing the
natural increase by 10. For example, if the birth rate is 14 per 1,000 population,
and the death rate is 8 per 1000 population, then the natural increase = 14 – 8 = 6.
That is 6/1000, which is equal to 0.6%.
5. How is growth rate different from population?
• Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be
a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically
quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a
census, a process of collecting, analysing, compiling, and publishing data
regarding a population. Population growth is the increase in the number of
people in a population. Population size is a measurement of existing population
at any point in time, while the population growth rate tells us what is happening
to the population in terms of whether it is growing, getting smaller, or remaining
constant.
Sources:
The New Wider World 5. https://drive.google.com/file/d/10J1N7ND2pd6VKH-
aL9uMvrnFRwRpe_yh/view?usp=drivesdk
https://www.tutor2u.net/geography/reference/the-push-pull-factors-of-migration
https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=136§ion=
1.4
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth
