Push/Pull Factors of Immigration

• Push factors are things or events that push people out of one place and to another. This is also known as emigration.

• Pull factors are advantages that pull people into a new place. This is also known as immigration.

Home Country

Receiving Country

Emigration

Immigration

PUSH

FACTORS

Reasons to Emigrate

FAMINE• Scarcity of food• In the 1840’s a potato famine in Ireland destroyed the potato

crops and caused many Irish to immigrate to the United States.

Lack of opportunity

• Many people emigrate from their homes because there may not be enough jobs or opportunities and/or land is scarce.

Overcrowding/poverty

• For example: The Industrial Revolution in Britain led to overcrowding in the cities and did little to improve impoverished conditions. In fact, it led to them.

Persecution• The Pilgrims left Europe because they were persecuted

for their beliefs.

• Many people, predominantly Jews, but not exclusively Jews, fled Europe before World War II because they, too, were persecuted. The lucky ones left before the Holocaust.

War/Political Oppression

When your home is destroyed by war or you are persecuted for your political persuasion you may be pushed to go

somewhere else.

PullFactors(Immigration)

Jobs

• Have your parents ever been transferred because of their jobs? This is a pull factor. It make sense to move for a

better job.

Freedoms• Before the fall of the iron curtain, citizens of communist

countries like the U.S.S.R left their country illegally to countries that offered the kinds of freedoms we have in the United States.

OpportunityOften times in the past, people immigrated because the new

land offers opportunities their homeland does not. Not only job opportunities, but opportunities to own land and build empires.

Education• Look at the Universities in the USA. Students from all

over the world come here because our universities offer higher education that is superior to their own countries.

Standard of Living• The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the

world. Much of this is because of the richness of our natural resources and the industry generated by them. This results in a higher quality of life and advance health care.