Forced & Voluntary Migration (College Board AP® Human Geography): Revision Note

Forced migration

• Migration is characterized as either forced or voluntary based on the cause of the movement 

• Forced migration refers to the movement of migrants due to external causes, when people migrate not because they want to but because they have no other choice

  • Forced migrants may be fleeing unstable political situations, wars, famines, natural disasters or cultural issues

  • Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are examples of forced migrants

  • They generally migrate due to political or environmental crises

    • A refugee is a migrant who leaves their country with the intent to return and crosses international borders

    • An IDP is an individual forced to flee their home but they remain within the same country 

• An asylum seeker is a person who migrates to another country hoping to be recognized as a refugee. An asylum seeker attempts to find residence in a country outside of their own because they are fleeing political persecution or human rights violations

• Slavery is a form of forced migration in which people are moved against their will and held as the property of others

  • The transatlantic slave trade forcibly moved millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries

  • Its effects can still be seen today in the ethnic composition of populations across the Americas

Voluntary migration

• Voluntary migration refers to people choosing to move to a new location without being forced

  • Transnational migration refers to movement from one country to another across an international border

  • Internal migration refers to movement within the same country

• New immigrants often move to places where family members and friends from their home country have already migrated, resulting in chain migration

• Step migration refers to migration to a final destination that takes place in stages

• A guest worker is a legal immigrant who is allowed into the country to work, usually for a specified amount of time

• Brain drain refers to the process whereby highly skilled and educated migrants leave one country for another

  • Generally, these migrants move from less-developed to more-developed countries

  • This leaves their country of origin with fewer skilled workers

• Remittances are the money and goods immigrants send back to their families and communities in their country of origin

• Transhumance refers to the seasonal movement of humans and their livestock to access grazing areas

• Rural-to-urban migration is the movement of people from the countryside into towns and cities

  • People move in search of work, education, healthcare, and better services

  • It is the main driver of rapid urbanization in less developed countries