Individuals and Societies 9

Crook
Human Geography

Why do people migrate?

What are the effects of migration?
How does migration affect communities?

Geographers study human populations: how they grow and decline, why they move, how they are shaped
by, and shape, their environments. Let’s explore the dynamic of MIGRATION

1. Read the article, and with your group, describe the experience of Nepali migration:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/world/asia/in-nepal-a-better-life-with-a-steep-price.html?module=Search&mab
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● What about life in Nepal made Nepali people want to emigrate? ​Nepal is a political and economic
mess meaning the quality of life isn’t good. Electricity is out for most of the day, poverty is
endemic, air pollution is choking, and health statistics are terrible. There are also very few jobs,
so no way to earn money for your family.
● What about life in the Gulf made Nepali people want to immigrate? ​In the Gulf there are more
jobs available (for example, in Qatar they are building the football stadium for the Fifa World
Cup 2022). Also the working conditions are better.
● Using the migration terms, write 5 sentences to describe the experience of the Nepali immigrants
to the Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, etc). Please use one vocab
term from our list for each sentence.
○ Nepal has a lot of emigrants who leave Nepal to find new work opportunities in nearby
countries such as India, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
○ Because they are immigrants in the gulf countries, they are sometimes used as slaves, or
do not get good jobs.
○ Emigration is a real issue in Nepal because a lot of their population is leaving the country.
○ It is not forced migration because the government isn’t pressuring them out of the
country, however if they want a better income, moving out is a better option.

2. Please use the website below to find definitions of the following terms. Please complete the chart
below, with good examples for each definition.
http://eschooltoday.com/migration/the-pull-and-push-factors-of-migration.html

Push Factors (definition): Pull Factors (definition):

An outside reason such as conflict, A reason why someone is attracted to
drought, famine, or extreme religious move to a certain place.
activity, poor jobs and poor economic
activity that forces people to move out of
the country. However, they decided to
 move and were not deported.

Nepali ● Poor economic activity ● More jobs available

immigrants ● Political mess ● Better working conditions
to the Gulf ● Poor quality of life
○ No electricity
○ Air pollution
○ Poverty
○ Bad health
● Very few jobs opportunities