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Economic Factors
Job loss and lack of employment opportunities: high unemployment rates, poor career prospects, and low salaries (resulting in negative net migration)
Declining agricultural productivity due to climate change
Evictions / high cost of living
Improvements in technology (= economic growth) may reduce the need for workers
Political Factors
Property-rights conflicts over borders
Violence and war (resulting in involuntary migration): Many people left Europe to escape the Nazi regime during WW II by fleeing to the US, Canada, Australia, and South America.
5.6m Syrians fled their homeland since 2011 due to the Civil War.
Thousands of people left Venezuela after Chavez got elected and installed a repressive communist government.
Cultural Factors
Discrimination, persecution, and political instability resulting from cultural diversity
Lack of religious freedom, racism, and unequal treatment
Early 20th century: Kurds forcibly relocated to different parts in Turkey; Kurds were seen as a threat to modern Turkey, according to the then president.
Partition of India: Muslim refugees fled to Pakistan, Hindu refugees to India
Gender roles and expectations: who is in the workforce and expected to provide for the family? --> could result in male guest workers emigrating
Legal barriers being places on female migration
Demographic Factors
Demographics (age, education level, and geographic location) affect migration
People in rural communities may move due to a lack of access to health care and/or education.
Imbalanced gender ratios (e.g. significantly more men than women live in an area --> men may move to find a wife).
Rapidly increasing population or large population in general may cause people to move to less densely populated areas due to limited employment opportunities and resources.
Women who live in poverty may leave their home countries to find husbands elsewhere.
Environmental Conditions
Hurricane damages (Hurricane Katrina displaced hundreds of thousands of people - 50% of residents returned to the city and tried to rebuild it but others stayed away for good)
Adverse physical conditions: intense heat, drought, substantial flooding
Global warming/climate change: crop failure, water scarcity, intensified storms, and rising sea levels cause people to move as well.
--> Scientists predict that at least 50 million people will be displaced from their communities by 2050 due to problems related to climate change (desert and coastal communities as well as islands will become uninhabitable).
Why are so many people leaving the US?
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