Migration – push factors, pull factors and intervening obstacles
GeographyPopulation & SettlementAges 15–16
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Sign in to playA map of a rural area (Aven) and three destinations: a nearby city, the more distant capital and a city in a neighbouring country across the border. Set push factors (conflict, drought, unemployment), the pull of each destination (jobs, wages, safety, family ties) and intervening obstacles (distance, travel cost, border control): people decide whether to stay or where to go, and the flows appear as arrows and moving dots. Follow the impacts on the origin (population, age structure, remittances) and the destinations (labour, jobs), and tell voluntary from forced migration.
Lesson: Migration: causes (push and pull factors), intervening obstacles and impacts on origin and destination
What it shows
Lee's push–pull model explains migration as a comparison: conditions that push people away from home, conditions that pull them towards a destination, and obstacles in between such as distance, cost and borders. In this model each person weighs staying against three destinations; family members who moved earlier strengthen the pull (chain migration), and as more migrants arrive jobs become harder to find. Severe conflict or disaster turns movement into forced migration: whole families leave and head for the nearest safe place. Place names are fictional and the weights are illustrative.
How to use
Pick a Scenario or set Conflict, Drought and Unemployment yourself, then press Play. Choose Brook, Corin or Delmar to set its Jobs, Wages, Safety and Family there, drag the cities on the map to change the distance, and adjust Travel cost and Border control. Watch the arrows, the counts and the impact lines below.
Parameters you can change
- Starting scenario Custom (uses the push factors below), Prolonged drought, Armed conflict, Job boom in the nearby city
- Conflict 0–100 %
- Drought 0–100 %
- Rural unemployment 0–100 %
- Travel cost 0–100 %
- Border control 0–100 %
- Simulation speed 0.5–5 years/s
- Show remittance flows
Questions to explore
- Why are most voluntary migrants aged between 15 and 35?
- How do the flows change direction when border control becomes stricter?
- How do forced migrants choose a destination differently from voluntary migrants?
