COLEGIO BILINGÜE JOSÉ ALLAMANO

Excelencia Académica y Respeto por la

personas y Culturas
SOCIAL STUDIES AREA - GEOGRAPHY
SEVENTH GRADE
GLOBAL MIGRATION FACTORS
FIRST ACADEMIC TERM

Causes and consequences

MIGRATION.
There are many different reasons why migration
occurs. Let's take a look at the 'push and pull
Since the earliest times, humanity has been on
factor' idea, a helpful way of understanding the
the move. Some people move in search of work or
movement of migrants.
economic opportunities, to join family, or to
study. Others move to escape conflict,
Push factors are the things going on in their place
persecution, terrorism, or human rights
of residence that make people want to leave. Pull
violations. Still others move in response to the
factors are those which attract people to a place.
adverse effects of climate change, natural
disasters, or other environmental factors.
Push factors for migration include:

Today, more people than ever live in a country

Extreme weather (droughts, which can affect
other than the one in which they were born.
things like agriculture).
According to the IOM World Migration Report
Lack of economic or social opportunities (work,
2020, as of June 2019 the number of
school).
international migrants was estimated to be almost
Lack of safety - (war, the threat to life,
272 million globally, 51 million more than in 2010.
persecution).
Nearly two thirds were labour migrants.
International migrants comprised 3.5 per cent of
Pull factors for migration include:
the global population in 2019. This compared to
2.8 per cent in 2000 and 2.3 per cent in 1980.
Improved job or economic opportunities (income,
skills).
While many individuals migrate out of choice,
Better healthcare
many others migrate out of necessity. According
Equality (gender)
to UNHCR, the number of globally forcibly
Better political conditions (stability).
displaced people worldwide was 79.5 million at the
Migration can have positive and negative impacts
end of 2019. Of these, 26 million were refugees
on the social, economic and political factors of
(20.4 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate,
both host nations and origin locations. Let's take
5.6 million Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s
a look at some of the effects and consequences
mandate). 45.7 million people were internally
of migration.
displaced, 4.2 million were asylum-seekers, and
3.6 million were Venezuelans displaced abroad.
Social effects of migration

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) defines a

Culture and diversity
migrant as any person who is moving or has moved
across an international border or within a State
Culture is the shared beliefs, values and
away from his/her habitual place of residence,
traditions of a demographic. This also extends to
regardless of (1) the person’s legal status; (2)
food, music, religion, art, dress and language.
whether the movement is voluntary or
There are many different cultures across the
involuntary; (3) what the causes for the
world, and through migration, most prominently,
movement are; or (4) what the length of the stay
international migration, these cultures can be
is.
shared and brought to new places.
Migration can increase the cultural diversity of a
host country, as an introduction of a new culture
can bring a whole new market of products and
services that were not available in the host
country prior to the arrival of migrants. Migration
in this sense, can have very positive impacts on
the host nation. However, there can be negative
impacts for the migrants themselves, for
example, there can be a significant loss of
cultural norms, as they may be entering a host
country that has a completely different way of
societal living than their origin country.
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF MIGRATION
Cultural clash
Migrants may have entirely different cultural
values or characteristics to those of a host
nation. When there are differences between the
host and the origin country, tensions may build up
between them. This is often called a cultural clash
or cultural conflict.

Let's talk about curry. Chicken tikka masala has Discrimination

been ranked as one of Britain's national dishes.
Although not an official Indian curry, it comes
from traditional Indian curry recipes. The British
love for curry is visible in places around the UK
too, such as the curry mile in Manchester. This is
just one clear example of cultural diversity, and
the impacts and influences of migration on daily
culture.
International migration may create spaces for
discrimination. Migrants may have a different
ethnicity, religious practice, or cultural
characteristics from their host nation, or there
may be language barriers, which can sometimes
cause migrants to be discriminated against in
every aspect of their everyday lives, either
directly or indirectly

Assimilation
Assimilation is the integration of migrants into
their host country. This occurs naturally, at
different rates, and over a long period of time.
Assimilation rates are affected by many
different factors, such as the level of similarity
between migrants and local people or perhaps the
existence of tensions between migrants and local
groups.