Economic factors

Push factors: the negative aspects of their 'home' society that may make them want to migrate. Examples of push factors are lack of jobs and poor economy.

Pull factors: Things the destination society might offer that attracts migrants, examples of pull factors are a stable economy and good exports.

Recent and future patterns

We have increasing levels of both immigration and emigration, highest in 2004, this is down to Britain joining the European Union. Males might go and work and send money home, as well as young males and females going abroad to study. Older people migrate to retire or to visit family.

Check Questions & answers:

  

• Identify two public health measures that helped to produce the decline in the death rate
• Improvements in housing; cleaner drinking water; food and drink laws; improved sewerage; Clean Air Acts.

• Suggest two reasons for the decline in the birth rate in the 20th century
• Changes in the position of women; decline in the infant mortality rate; children are now an economic liability; child-centred families.

• Suggest two reasons for class differences in infant mortality.
• Class differences in factors such as family size, access to good housing, sanitation, nutrition, mother’s knowledge of hygiene, access to health services, uptake of immunisation.

• How might population trends in the UK be related to the increase in the proportion of married women working?
• Married women working may lead to a fall in the birth rate because they tend to delay childbearing or may not have children at all.

• Suggest two reasons for the decline in maternal mortality.
• Smaller families; better knowledge of hygiene; improved ante- and post-natal services; better nutrition.

• Identify three reasons why many women today are having their children at a later age than earlier generations? 
• They are continuing their education; starting careers; cohabiting and establishing a home before starting a family.

• What is the typical effect of immigration on fertility rates?
• Immigrant mothers tend to have higher fertility rates than mothers in the UK.

• Identify two effects migration may have on the dependency ration.
• Migrants tend to be of working age and in the short term this will reduce the dependency ratio. However, because migrants tend to be young and therefore fertile, they are more likely to produce children and this will increase the dependency ratio.