Ch. 3 : Global Migration Patterns Objective: Identify 3 global migration patterns
Dec 29, 2015
Ch. 3 : Global Migration Patterns
Objective: Identify 3 global migration patterns
Pattern 1: Movement from less to more developed
Pattern 2: Guest workers versus permanent
migration
Fig. 3-9: Guest workers emigrate mainly from Eastern Europe and North Africa to work in the wealthier countries of Western Europe.
Pattern 3: Migration within a Country
Migration between regions of a countryMigration between regions within the U.S.Migration between regions in other countries
Migration within one regionRural-urban migrationUrban-suburban migrationMigration from metropolitan to nonmetropolitan regions
Center of Population in the
U.S.
Fig. 3-12: The center of U.S. population has consistently moved westward, with the population migration west. It has also begun to move southward with migration to the southern sunbelt.
Intraregional Migration in the U.S.
Fig. 3-14: Average annual migration among urban, suburban, and rural areas in the U.S. during the 1990s. The largest flow was from central cities to suburbs.
Why is counterurbanization slowing down?
Ravenstein’s 19th Century Migration
“Laws” Most people migrate for economic reasons.
Cultural & environmental factors may also be important, but not as important as economics
Most migrants move a short distance, and stay within a country.
Long-distance migrants go to major centers of economic activity (jobs).
Most long-distance migrants are males.
Most long-distance migrants are adults, not families with their children.
Migrant Characteristics
Changes In the 19th Century E.G. Ravenstein noted that: •
Most long-distance migrants were male. Most long-distance migrants were single adults, not families with children.
Are these characteristics still true?Today, in the US, most international immigrants are women, not men.Although most immigrants to the US are still single adults, increasing numbers of immigrants are children (17 years of age or less).
Why do we see changes?Changes in the status of women, changes in the kinds of jobs available, changes in the transportation system.
What about refugees?
UN definitionA person who has well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political group.
UN reports 24 million refugees worldwide
What about refugees?UN definitions
International refugees:
Those who have crossed one or more international borders and are encamped in a country other than their own
Intranational refugees:
Those who have abandoned their homes but not their homeland
It is difficult to identify refugees.
No mention of natural/enviromental disaster
UN must distinguish between refugees and voluntary migrants before granting asylum.
Three general characteristics, individual or aggregate (collectively):
Most refugees move without any more tangible property than they can carry or transport with them.Most refugees make their first “step” on foot, by bicycle, wagon, or open boat.Refugees move without the official documents that accompany channeled migrations.
Regions of Dislocation
Sub-Saharan Africa
Several of the world’s largest refugee crises plagued Africa during the 1990s and early 21st century -8 million “official” refugeesCivil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and SudanHostilities between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in Rwanda
Other regions of dislocation…
North Africa and Southwest Asia
Israel and the displaced Arab populations that surround it
Exhibits qualities that are likely to generate additional refugee flow in the future
The Kurdish population following the Gulf War (1991)
Taliban rule in Afghanistan
Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion during the 1980s
Regions of dislocation continued…
South Asia
Pakistan accommodated forced emigrants from Afghanistan
Major refugee problem stems from a civil war in Sri Lanka
Regions of dislocation continued…
Southeast Asia“Boat people” who fled communist rule in Vietnam
In the early 1990s, Cambodia generated the region’s largest refugee flow
Today--largest number of refugees come from Myanmar (Burma)
Regions of dislocation continued…
EuropeAfter the collapse of Yugoslavia, over 1 million were displaced
South America Colombian illegal drug
violence, especially in rural areas