1 PATTERNS OF MIGRATIONS Seven Laws of Migration according to Ravenstein (1885): 1. Migrants usually move a short distance (“distance decay factor”) 2. Migration is a step-by-step process (one group moves on and is replaced by a new group) 3. Immigration somewhere means emigration somewhere else 4. Immigration waves encourages a counter-current of emigration (balance = net migration) 5. Long-distance migrants are more likely to move to major urban centers 6. Rural residents are more likely to migrate than urban residents 7. Females or more likely to migrate than males within the country, but males more likely to another country. Recent geographers have added more observations, such as: • Growth of large cities is triggered by migration more than by natural increase • Migration is primarily due to economic reasons • Most migrants are aged 20-35 • Migrations increase as cities, industry and transport develop • Many migrants cannot find work and eventually return to where they came from Push/Pull Factors according to Lee (1966): • Push factors are negative features that cause a person to move away from place (ex: unemployment, low wages, war, natural hazards, persecution, famine, lack of opportunities) • Pull factors are the attractions (real or imagined!) that exist in the destination (ex: higher wages, better jobs, good schools, higher quality of life, protection from natural hazards, perception of abundance, etc) • Restraining factors can be an obstacle to pull factors: distance, cost, linguistic /cultural differences, loneliness, lack of human rights (Gulf