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Narration
This is an edited version of an essay by Martha Sharma, Cathedral School, Washington, D.C. For the complete article see the Journal of Geography, May-August 2000, Vol. 99, No. 3/4.
Fertility and mortality are two elements of the demographic equation. The third element is migration: the movement of people into or out of a given place. Migration may take people across national political boundaries in response to deteriorating political, economic, or environmental conditions; or it may only involve movement within the country. It may also be involuntary or voluntary. Immigrant populations whose cultures, languages, and religions have blended to form new national identities have profoundly influenced a few countries, including the United States, Canada, and Australia. The large numbers affecting selected countries notwithstanding, international migrants account for only about 2% of the world's population, about 125 million people, and have little impact on population change in most countries.
Some international migrants are forced to leave their home countries due to war or unstable political circumstances. For example, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, almost 1.5 million refugees from Afghanistan were living in Iran in 1997, and another 1.2 million in Pakistan. In 1999 almost 11.5 million people were recognized as refugees, with most living in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. In addition, another 6.7 million people were recognized as "internally displaced persons."
Not all international migrants are refugees, however. Many move in search of employment and a better standard of living. About half of all international migrants move from one developing country to another. For example, large numbers of men, many of them from such countries as Egypt, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, and Pakistan, have moved as guest workers to the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf region to take advantage of a job surplus in this area. In many cases, immigrant labor makes up a large share of the labor force and skews the population age structure. For example, in the United Arab Emirates, immigrants made up 90% of the labor force in 1995. Other international migrants flock to more developed countries, filling jobs left vacant by aging and affluent populations. About one-third of the world's migrant population lives in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Japan, and Canada. For example, migrants from North Africa and Turkey have located in France and Germany, respectively, in the late twentieth century. Use of the gravity model aids in the analysis of contemporary migration patterns and affords students the opportunity to test such concepts as distance decay, friction of distance, and intervening opportunity, as they relate to migration decisions.
The United States is also a popular target for migrants seeking employment and education opportunities. For example, in 1997 there were an estimated 25.8 million foreign-born residents in the United States, or 9.7% of the total population. Nearly half of all foreign-born are of Hispanic origin. The single largest group of foreign-born migrants is from Mexico, accounting for almost 30% of all immigrants, followed by persons born in the Philippines, Canada, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland. In addition to the introduction of greater racial and ethnic diversity into the American population, immigrants may also have some effect on the age structure of the U.S. population. The majority of immigrants tend to be young adults with their families, which may hold down the median age of foreign-born populations somewhat; however, little if any effect is projected for the population as a whole. The Census Bureau projects that the median age in the United States will rise to 38.1 years by 2050, from the current 34.3 years. Foreign-born populations, while found in every state, have gravitated toward certain gateway states, especially California (with more than 7.7 million foreign-born residents) and New York (with 3.0 million foreign-born residents).
Migration also occurs within countries. In many less developed countries, just as in the case of international migration, internal migrants are often fleeing civil disturbances or failing economic conditions, as noted before. Rural to urban migration involves the movement of literally tens of thousands of people to large metropolitan areas, adding to the problems of already burgeoning cities with over-taxed utilities and services. In more developed countries, the trend is just the reverse, with people abandoning crowded central cities in favor of suburbs and the rapidly transforming rural fringe beyond. In the United States, for example, this process is evident in declining populations of central cities within growing metropolitan areas, such as Washington, DC, where the city itself experienced a net decline of 10.6% in population between 1990 and 1996, while the metropolitan area saw a net increase of 8.1% over the same period.
On a different scale, the United States has experienced an internal shift in population from states in the Northeast and Midwest to states in the South and West -- the region referred to as the Sunbelt. In 1960, 54% of the U.S. population lived in the Northeast and Midwest, but by 1995, only 43% of the population lived in these two regions. Attracted by employment opportunities and a lower cost of living, people have flocked to the Sunbelt states of Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, as well as to Idaho and Washington in the West, and to Georgia in the South, all of which experienced annual growth of 2% or above between 1990 and 1995. This trend in population movement is not only changing the demographic profile of the country and the states most involved, it is also introducing change in the cultural, political, and economic fabric of both the regions losing and those gaining population.
Regardless of where students live, migration, either international or internal, is likely to have left its mark on the local area, whether by the presence of an immigrant population or by the relocation of jobs and the associated movement of labor. Local or personal experience can be the springboard for studying migration on a larger scale. For example, students can trace their own immigrant roots and compare them to major national trends. Or they can look for and analyze immigrant imprints, such as architectural style, place names, churches, and restaurants in the local cultural landscape.
Web Sites
To view the following Web sites, please go to "See also" below.
The Teachers' Corner contains links to suggested Web sites. The College Board neither endorses, controls the content of, nor reviews the external Web sites included here. Please note that following links to external Web sites will open a new browser window. If you discover a link that does not work, please let us know by sending an e-mail to apctechsupport@collegeboard.org.
Asian-American Timeline 1763-1992
AskAsia.org details the Asian American experience in the U.S. from 1763 to 1992. A lesson link is at the top of the page.
Migration Dialogue
Links to the newsletters Migration News and Rural Migration News, and to monographs, reports, and seminars from the University of California, Davis.
Migration Map
A graduated circle map that shows migration from abroad into the United States from 1985-1990.
Migration Topics from GeoNet -- Geo Topics
What is migration? Migration into Europe; Push/Pull; main types of migration are linked to good information.
Migration: Human Refugees
Web site of the U.S. Committee for Refugees. Links to "Worldwide Refugee Information," which provides information about any country via interactive regional maps.
Migration: Why People Move -- Immigration and St. Louis County
Craig Hattam, a Minnesota geography teacher, has developed a home page with lessons and links on immigration.
Migration: Mexican
The Mexican Migration Project, University of Pennsylvania.
Population Facts and Figures
Excellent site with loads of facts on a variety of topics related to population and migration from NPG (Negative Population Growth), a nonprofit organization.
Refugee Statistics from United Nations
Web site of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Many tables for almost any country are presented with topics showing how many refugees there were in a given year (in the recent past) and how many the commission helped.
Refugees & UNHCR: UNHCR by Numbers
The main table shows where UNHCR refugees came from and where they were going.
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