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Migration to other countries is more prevalent than ever. What human factors determine our movement around the world?Key facts
- Emigration is the act of leaving one's country to settle in another.
- People who are forced to migrate due to environmental or political factors, such as famine, war or persecution, are known as refugees or asylum seekers.
- Economic migration is motivated by the wide disparity between lower-wage and higher-wage countries.
- With the global population rising by 200,000 people every day, the number of migrants is set to get higher and higher.
Transcript
Having migrated over thousands of years, humans now populate every continent on Earth, dividing ourselves into over 200 countries.
Yet the number of migrants has never been so high.
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country to settle in another.
There are many reasons people choose to migrate.
Forced Migration
Sometimes, the choice is made because of environmental factors, like drought or famine.
But in many cases, migrants choose to leave for political reasons.
Forced migration often occurs because of war.
During the First and Second World Wars, millions of people were forced to flee their homelands.
Now, civil wars or political persecution often create hundreds of thousands of migrants.
People who migrate for these reasons are known as refugees, and go in search of asylum, or safe refuge, in another country or territory.
The lengths that some refugees are prepared to go to in order to escape, are often extreme and life-threatening.
Economic Migration
However, most migration today is economically motivated by the wide disparities in incomes earned for similar work in different countries.
People from lower-wage countries choose to migrate to higher-wage nations, such as the USA or the UK.
With the global population increasing by over 200,000 people each day, the human race seems destined to migrate around the planet in search of a better life.
