Welcome to Internal Migration: Understanding Movements Within Borders!

Hey Geographers!
This chapter is all about understanding how and why people move house *within* their own country. This is called Internal Migration. It’s crucial because these shifts dramatically change the character, economy, and population structure of both the places people leave (source areas) and the places they move to (destination areas).

Don't worry, even if this topic seems complex, we will break down the movements into clear, simple categories. Let's get started!

1. Defining Internal Migration

Internal Migration is the movement of people within a country’s borders, usually involving a change of residence for more than one year. It is a key component of population change, alongside natural increase (births minus deaths) and international migration.

1.1 Review: The Push and Pull Factors

Any migration, whether internal or international, is driven by factors that push people away from their current location and pull them towards a new one. Remember this simple framework:

  • Push Factors: Negative aspects of the source area (e.g., lack of jobs, poor services, harsh climate, pollution).
  • Pull Factors: Positive attractions of the destination area (e.g., better job prospects, higher wages, better education, clean air).

Quick Tip: Internal migration often results from people seeking to improve their quality of life or standard of living.

Key Takeaway: Internal migration changes population distributions and is caused by balancing negative pushes and positive pulls.

2. Rural-Urban Movements (The Great Shift)

The movement of people from the countryside (rural areas) to towns and cities (urban areas) is historically the most significant form of internal migration, especially in Low Income Countries (LICs) and Middle Income Countries (MICs).

2.1 Causes of Rural-Urban Migration

The reasons differ significantly between developed and developing countries:

In LICs/MICs (Focus on Economic Necessity):
  • Rural Push: Low wages, lack of healthcare and education, drought/poor harvests, pressure on agricultural land (land fragmentation).
  • Urban Pull: The "bright lights" effect, better perception of social life, greater employment opportunities in manufacturing or the informal sector (e.g., street selling).
In HICs (Focus on Education/Career):
  • Rural Push: Closure of local services (shops, post offices, schools), difficulty accessing further education.
  • Urban Pull: University education, specialised high-tech jobs, high concentration of varied services and entertainment.

2.2 Impacts on Source Areas (Rural)

When young people leave, the rural area suffers.

  • Economic: Reduced labour pool for agriculture, decline in local services (as fewer customers remain), increase in remittances (money sent back by migrants) which can boost local economies slightly.
  • Social: Loss of traditions and community vibrancy, closure of schools due to lack of children.
  • Population Structure: Significant ageing population (as the elderly are left behind) and often a disproportionate number of females remaining (if male economic migration dominates).

2.3 Impacts on Receiving Areas (Urban)

Cities, especially those in LICs/MICs, often struggle to cope with the influx.

  • Economic: Large, cheap workforce (good for industry), but high unemployment rates, strain on government finances due to increased welfare needs.
  • Environmental: Severe urban sprawl, increased pollution (air, noise, water), habitat loss.
  • Social: Severe housing shortages leading to the growth of shanty towns (squatter settlements), increased traffic congestion, strain on infrastructure (power, water, sanitation).
  • Population Structure: A marked increase in the youthful, working-age population (the 15–40 age groups), leading to high fertility rates and high dependency ratios later on.

Key Takeaway: Rural-urban movement accelerates development in cities but often leads to rural depopulation and strain on urban resources, significantly changing population age structures at both ends.

3. Urban-Rural Movements (Counterurbanisation)

This is the reverse movement: people leaving cities to live in the countryside. This movement is usually a feature of High Income Countries (HICs).

3.1 Causes of Urban-Rural Migration

This phenomenon is often called Counterurbanisation.

  • Urban Push: High cost of living (especially housing/rent), air and noise pollution, high crime rates, traffic congestion, and a perceived drop in the quality of life.
  • Rural Pull: Desire for larger houses and gardens, perceived safer and cleaner environment, better schooling options, and the ability to commute thanks to improved transport and remote working technologies.

Did You Know? Many people engaged in counterurbanisation are commuters who still work in the city but prefer to sleep outside of it. However, the movement of retirees is also common.

3.2 Impacts of Counterurbanisation

On Source Areas (Urban):
  • Positive: Decreased demand for housing in the core city (reducing house prices slightly), reduction in congestion and pollution.
  • Negative: Loss of experienced workers and taxpayers, decline in central city services that rely on a dense population (e.g., local shops and restaurants may close).
On Destination Areas (Rural):
  • Positive: Improved local services (shops and schools stay open due to increased demand), increased taxes for local government, introduction of new skills and businesses.
  • Negative: Increased house prices (locals, especially young families, cannot afford to stay), increased traffic and congestion in previously quiet villages, erosion of local culture (as new residents often have different expectations). This is often called NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) where new residents fight against new development.

Key Takeaway: Counterurbanisation is driven by quality of life concerns in HICs, leading to urban decentralisation and increased pressure on rural infrastructure and housing.

4. Complex Internal Movements

Migration isn't always a simple, single jump. Sometimes it happens in stages, and sometimes it happens between major centres.

4.1 Stepped Migration (Moving Up the Ladder)

This describes a migration pattern where people move up the settlement hierarchy (e.g., from a small hamlet to a village, then to a town, then finally to a large city) in a series of steps.

  • Why it Happens: A person from a tiny village might not have the skills or cultural familiarity to move straight to a megacity like Jakarta or London. Moving to a small town first acts as a stepping stone, providing initial experience and contacts before the next, larger move.

4.2 Urban-Urban Movements

This is the movement of people between different urban areas (e.g., moving from City A to City B). This often occurs when people seek better career progression or a different lifestyle.

  • Example: A professional moving from a smaller regional city to a national capital city (a world city) because the capital offers a higher salary and specialised jobs.

Key Takeaway: Stepped migration involves moving gradually up the settlement hierarchy, while urban-urban movement often targets specialised career opportunities.

5. Intra-Urban Movements (Moving Within the City)

These are movements that occur entirely within a single urban settlement (e.g., moving from the city centre to the suburbs). This is often linked to the life cycle model.

5.1 Causes of Intra-Urban Migration

1. The Family Life Cycle:

As individuals and families age, their needs change, prompting movement:

  • Stage 1 (Young Professional/Student): Moves to the Inner City (close to work/entertainment), often renting small apartments.
  • Stage 2 (Family Formation): Moves to the Suburbs seeking larger houses, better schools, and more garden space for children.
  • Stage 3 (Empty Nesters/Retirees): May move back to the city centre (Re-urbanisation) for convenience, proximity to services, or smaller, easier-to-manage housing.
2. Urban Renewal and Decentralisation:
  • Gentrification: Higher-income individuals move into previously low-income, inner-city areas, displacing the original poorer residents.
  • Decentralisation: As manufacturing and services move out of the highly congested Central Business District (CBD) to the edges of the city, workers often follow to reduce their commute.

5.2 Impacts of Intra-Urban Movements

  • Suburbanisation: The outward spread of people and activities from the city centre to the outskirts. This is the biggest impact and leads to massive urban growth and road networks.
  • Pressure on Green Belts: Increased need for housing on the edges of the city means developers often lobby to build on protected green spaces.
  • Residential Segregation: Different social or ethnic groups become concentrated in specific areas, often due to income levels, housing market operations, or cultural preference.

Key Takeaway: Intra-urban migration is mostly determined by the changing needs of a family as they age (the life cycle) and leads to the physical expansion of the city (suburbanisation).

6. Summary of Population Structure Changes

It is vital for the exam to link migration movements directly to changes in population structure (as seen in age/sex diagrams).

Think of it as a spatial transfer of the population pyramid's shape:

Migration Type Source Area Impact Receiving Area Impact
Rural-Urban (LICs/MICs) Pyramid narrows at the base and in the middle (loss of young adults and children). Becomes top-heavy (ageing population). Pyramid bulges in the 20–40 age groups (large workforce). Becomes bottom-heavy (many children being born to young migrants) requiring more schools.
Counterurbanisation (HICs) Central city may lose middle-aged groups (30-50) but retain young singles/students and the very old. Rural areas gain working-age families (30-50s) and their young children, causing temporary school enrollment rises and a demand for larger houses.

Memory Aid: A source area for migration is like a leaking balloon—it loses air (people) from the most active part (the middle). The destination area is the filled, bulging balloon!

Final Review: Internal migration is a dynamic process that reshapes both rural and urban areas, fundamentally altering their population compositions, economies, and environmental sustainability.