categories: those that would “push” an individual or group to migrate, and those
that instead would “pull” migrants to a new place. Lee holds that these factors
working either alone or in concert, and at various levels of intensity, are respon-
sible for inducing the movement of human beings across space.
The “push” factors that Lee describes are all negative aspects of remaining in
thehomecountrythatamigrantwillseektoavoidandoftenfleefrom.Leedid
not claim to have produced a complete listing of these, but his compilation con-
tains the majority of common reasons behind the “push” to migrate. These range
from life-threatening situations such as famine, threats to one’s life, andnatural
hazardsand disasters, to matters of personal life choices or to seek better eco-
nomic opportunities, such as finding a suitable spouse or a higher-paying job.
Other push factors are poor quality of life, especially low standards of housing
and medical care, loss of farming opportunities due to desertification (indeed a
major cause of migration in the Sahel region of Africa), actual or feared religious
and political persecution, and other reasons. Any of these causes and others sug-
gested by Lee are sufficient to convince an individual or group to move to another
location, although thefriction of distancemay prevent migration until a certain
threshold of tolerance is exceeded, at which point migration will take place.
Push factors by themselves will suffice to instigate a migratory flow, but pull
factors also usually play a role in the decision to migrate. These are positive
aspects of the target location, whether it is a foreign country or territory, or another
place in the country of origin. These include better living conditions, better health
care or treatments unavailable in the home country, political or religious freedom,
greater opportunities of marrying, etc. Pull factors therefore frequently comple-
ment push factors. Some pull factors are related more to amenities; for example,
moving to aregionthat has a more comfortable climate or beautiful scenery (a
commonfactorinthemigrationofretirees in developed countries). Although
rather general, the push-pull concept provides insight into why migration occurs.
Push-Pull Concept 271