Maarg Manthan · Topic 10.10

Migration: Push and Pull Factors, Internal and Cross-Border Migration

Geography › Urbanization, Settlements and Migration · Topic 10.10

Migration is the movement of people from one place to another to live for a time or permanently. Push factors at the origin, such as poverty, unemployment, conflict or disaster, drive people away, and pull factors at the destination, such as jobs, better services and safety, draw them. Migration can be internal, within a country, or cross-border, between countries. In India the biggest internal stream is rural to rural, mostly women moving after marriage, while rural to urban is the main economic stream. India sends many emigrants abroad and is the largest recipient of remittances in the world.

7 min read · UPSC Prelims · Geography · Urbanization, Settlements and Migration

At a Glance

Push factors Poverty, unemployment, conflict
Pull factors Jobs, services, safety
Largest Indian stream Rural to rural
Migrants (2011) About 37 per cent of population
Remittances India is the top recipient
Exam link UPSC Prelims, Geography: Urbanization, Settlements and Migration

Where Does It Fit?

This topic follows the topic on rural settlement and describes the movement of people between places. It explains the push and pull that lie behind urban growth, and compares internal with cross-border movement. Previous topic: Patterns of Rural Settlement and Factors Affecting Them. Next topic: Categorization of Cities Based on Functions.

What Is Migration and What Are Its Types?

In short: migration is a change of residence, and who moves, how far and why varies greatly.

Basis	Types
Boundary crossed	Internal migration within a country, and international migration across borders
Duration	Permanent, temporary, seasonal (such as farm labour at harvest) and circular, in which workers go back and forth repeatedly
Choice	Voluntary, by free decision; and forced, because of conflict, persecution or disaster, as in the case of refugees and internally displaced people
Direction	Immigration is movement into a place, and emigration is movement out; net migration is the difference
Distance and region	Intra-state, inter-state, and rural or urban origin and destination

The place of origin loses population and the place of destination gains. Migration is the third factor, together with births and deaths, in the change of population, as in Theories of Population Growth: Malthusian Theory, Marxian Theory, Demographic Transition Theory.

What Are the Causes of Migration?

Factor	Push (origin)	Pull (destination)
Economic	Unemployment, low income, agrarian distress, loss of land, poverty	Jobs and higher wages, industries and services, business opportunities
Social and cultural	Marriage customs, caste or ethnic discrimination, lack of schools and health care	Better schools, hospitals, family networks and city amenities
Political	War, persecution, political unrest, and lack of security	Peace, stability, safety of life and political freedom
Environmental	Floods, droughts, cyclones, sea-level rise, land degradation, epidemics	A pleasant climate and fertile land

Migration is also affected by the cost of movement, networks of earlier migrants, transport links and government policy. Climate-related displacement is rising: the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports millions of new displacements each year in South Asia from floods and storms, and the sinking of delta lands and the loss of livelihoods in the Sundarbans and in the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta are drivers of movement, as in Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra Plain.

What Are the Patterns of Migration in India?

Streams: rural to rural migration is the largest, and is mostly of women who move after marriage; rural-urban migration is mostly of men looking for work; urban to urban is the movement between towns; and urban to rural is the smallest.
Scale: the Census of 2011 recorded about 45 crore migrants by place of last residence, about 37 per cent of the population. The Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2020–21 put the migration rate at 28.9 per cent; the rate was about 48 per cent among women and about 11 per cent among men, and in rural areas it was around 26.5 per cent. Most movement is within the same state, and marriage is the leading reason for women, while employment and the search for work lead men to move.
Inter-state flows: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar send the largest number of workers to other states, followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, while Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka are the main destinations; seasonal workers from Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh go to brick kilns, construction and farm work.
Circular migration: a large number of poor workers move for a few months a year and return, and are often not counted in the census, as they are not recorded as migrants at the place of work.
International: the Gulf countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Southeast Asia are the main destinations. India also receives migrants and refugees, mostly from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tibet and Myanmar.

As an analytical point, the official numbers hide the most precarious group, the seasonal and circular workers in construction and brick kilns, who are in the informal sector and lack documents, housing, portable ration entitlement and social security, which was seen when the national lockdown of March 2020 sent millions on foot to their villages. The new census, with the houselisting and enumeration of 2026 and 2027, should improve data on the reasons for migration, as in Census of India: Literacy, Sex Ratio, Family Planning, Old Age Dependency, Age Structure, Density, Population Growth.

What Are Internal and Cross-Border Migration?

Type	Meaning	Features in India
Internal migration	Movement within a country, between villages, towns and states	Census 2011 recorded about 450 million migrants by place of last residence, about 37 per cent of the population; most were women moving after marriage; the largest stream is rural to rural, and rural to urban is the main economic stream
Cross-border (international) migration	Movement from one country to another, either emigration (leaving) or immigration (entering)	Large flows from India to the Gulf, the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia; immigration into India from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Tibet; refugees
Seasonal and circular	Temporary movement for part of the year	Brick kilns, sugarcane harvest, construction

The main states of out-migration are Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and those of in-migration are Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana. Within the Northeast, Assam has been affected by in-migration across the border, which has been politically sensitive. Border migration with Bangladesh and Nepal has been shaped by open border arrangements and history, and the treaty of 1950 with Nepal allows free movement.

How Large Are the International Flows?

Emigration: India has the largest diaspora in the world, over 30 million people of Indian origin and non-resident Indians, as the Ministry of External Affairs counts them. Gulf countries host millions of workers, and the USA is home to a large professional community.
Remittances: India is the top recipient of remittances in the world, receiving over 100 billion US dollars a year in recent years, according to the World Bank, which supports the balance of payments and rural households, especially in Keralam, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Immigration and refugees: India hosts refugees from Tibet, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 provides a path to citizenship for some minorities from neighbouring countries.
Global: the United Nations estimates about 280 million international migrants in the world, about 3.6 per cent of the global population.

The consequences of migration are in Migration and Reverse Migration: Rehabilitation Policy and the push and pull factors above explain the movement to towns described in Urbanization Challenges: Rural-Urban Migration, Emergence of Slums, Informal Settlements.

Why Is This Topic Important?

Concepts Push and pull asked
Data Streams and survey figures
Policy Informal and circular migrants

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the categorisation of cities based on functions. Next topic: Categorization of Cities Based on Functions.

Key People and Terms

Push factor Reason to leave
Pull factor Reason to go
Immigration Movement into an area
Emigration Movement out of an area
Circular migration Repeated back and forth movement
Refugee Forced cross-border migrant

Exam Corner

Points to Remember

Push = origin; pull = destination.
Largest stream: rural to rural, mainly women.
Marriage is the main reason for women.
Work is the main reason for men.
PLFS migration rate: 28.9 per cent.

Do Not Confuse With

Immigration and emigration Into versus out of
Seasonal and circular migration Part of the year versus repeated cycles
Migrant and refugee Voluntary versus forced and cross-border

Memory Hook

Push from the village, pull from the city; women marry out, men go for work.

Mains Angle

Questions ask for causes and patterns of migration. These points add depth.

Causes Economic, social, political, environmental
Pattern Women marriage, men work
Gap Circular migrants not counted

A Question You May Face

An original practice question, not a past paper question.

“Discuss the major streams and causes of internal migration in India and explain why a large number of migrants are not captured in official data.”

How to Answer

Types Streams and duration.
Causes Push and pull.
Data Census and survey.
Gap Circular and informal.

GS Relevance

Prelims: push and pull factors, migration streams in India, remittances. GS Paper 1: migration and urbanisation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is migration?

Migration is the movement of people from one place to another, from a place of origin to a place of destination, for a permanent, temporary or seasonal stay. It may be within a country, called internal migration, or across national borders, called international migration, and may be voluntary or forced.

What are push and pull factors of migration?

Push factors make the place of origin less attractive, such as unemployment, poverty, conflict, natural disasters and lack of services. Pull factors make the place of destination attractive, such as better jobs and wages, services, security and climate. Migration usually results from a combination of both.

What are the main streams of migration in India?

The main streams are rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to urban and urban to rural. Rural to rural migration is the largest, mainly of women moving after marriage, while rural to urban migration is mostly of men moving for work. Most migration takes place within the same state.

What is the main reason for migration among women in India?

Marriage is the main reason for the migration of women in India, accounting for the large majority of female movements. About 48 per cent of women were migrants in the 2020–21 Periodic Labour Force Survey, mostly for marriage, whereas men mainly migrate for employment and work.

What is circular migration?

Circular migration is the repeated movement of workers between their home and a place of work, usually for part of each year, as with farm labourers and construction workers who go to cities or other states after the harvest and return home. It is often poorly captured in the census and surveys.

PYQ Practice — Statement Analysis

1 Rural to rural is the largest stream of migration in India.

True

It is dominated by marriage-related movement of women.

2 Pull factors are conditions at the place of origin that drive people away.

False

Those are push factors.

3 Emigration means moving into a new country.