Interregional Migration in Other Large Countries

The world’s largest countries in land area other than the United States are Russia, Canada, China, and Brazil. Long-distance interregional migration has been an important means of opening new regions for development in Russia and Canada in the past and in Brazil more recently. China once tried to discourage interregional migration, but in recent years has experienced large-scale interregional migration.

Interregional Migration: China

In developing countries, the predominant flow of interregional migration is from rural to urban areas where jobs are more likely to be available. More than 150 million Chinese have emigrated from rural areas in the interior of the country (Figure 3-17). They are headed for the large urban areas along the East Coast, where jobs are especially plentiful in factories.

Interregional Migration: China

Migrants are heading eastward toward the major cities along the east coast, where job opportunities are most abundant.

The government once severely limited the ability of Chinese people to make interregional moves. China's government leaders believed that most Chinese should live in rural areas and work in agriculture. The leaders feared that large-scale migration into urban areas would lead to poor living conditions, as seen in other countries (see Chapter 13).

In recent years, China's government has lifted many of the restrictions on migration. China's urban areas are among the world's most modern and rapidly growing.

Interregional Migration: Brazil

As in China, most Brazilians live in a string of large cities near the East Coast. Brazil’s tropical interior is sparsely inhabited (Figure 3-18). To increase the attractiveness of the interior, the government moved its capital in 1960 from Rio de Janeiro to a newly built city called Brasília, situated 900 kilometers (600 miles) from the Atlantic Coast (Figure 3-19). Development of Brazil’s interior has altered historic migration patterns into the large urban areas along the coast. The coastal areas now have net out-migration, whereas the interior areas have net in-migration.

Interregional Migration: Brazil

Net migration in Brazil is from coastal regions to interior ones.

Net In-Migration: BrasÍLia

Construction worker, Brasília.

Interregional Migration: Canada

Canada, like the United States, has had interregional migration primarily from east to west for more than a century. Between 2011 and 2017, Alberta had the largest net in-migration and Québec the largest net out-migration. The three largest interprovincial flows in Canada are from Ontario to Alberta, from British Columbia to Alberta, and from Alberta to British Columbia.

Net In-Migration: Alberta

New houses are built to accommodate oil field workers.

Interregional Migration: Russia

The population of Russia is highly clustered in the western, or European, portion of the country (Figure 3-22). To open up the sparsely inhabited Asian portion of Russia, interregional migration was important in the former Soviet Union. Soviet policy encouraged factory construction near raw materials rather than near existing population concentrations (see Chapter 11). To build up an adequate labor force, the Soviet government had to force people to undertake interregional migration. In recent years, this pattern has reversed, with net in-migration to the western regions bordering Europe where the largest cities and job opportunities are clustered

Interregional Migration: Russia

Pause & Reflect 3.2.2

Does Russia’s interregional migration pattern more closely resemble that of the United States and Canada or that of Brazil and China?