Push and pull factors

Also called: Push factors, Pull factors · Topic: World Population: Distribution, Density, Growth and Migration · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "The World Population: Distribution, Density and Growth"; Class 12, Ch 9 "Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems"

Meaning

Push factors are conditions at the place of origin that make people want to leave, such as unemployment, poverty and disasters. Pull factors are conditions at the place of destination that draw people in, such as better jobs, better facilities and peace. Together they explain why people migrate.

This pair is the basic tool for explaining any migration stream, from villagers moving to Mumbai to Kerala workers going to the Gulf. It also has a well-known NCERT exercise trap.

Explanation

How push and pull work together

• Migration is the movement of people from one place to another.
• Place of origin: the place people leave. Its population falls.

• Place of destination: the place people reach. Its population rises.

• NCERT calls migration "a spontaneous effort to achieve a better balance between population and resources".

• "Spontaneous" means people decide for themselves. Nobody plans the move for them.

• Push and pull together lead to a move:

• Life at the origin gets worse (push), so people want to leave.
• Another place looks better (pull), so they choose where to go.

• People leave places with too many people for the jobs and land available. They go where there is more opportunity.

• The main aim is a better economic and social life.

The two sets of factors

Push factors (at the origin)	Pull factors (at the destination)
Unemployment	Better jobs and higher wages
Poor living conditions	Better living conditions
Political turmoil (unrest, conflict)	Peace and stability
Unpleasant climate	Pleasant climate
Natural disasters (floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes)	Security of life and property
Epidemics	Better medical and educational facilities
Socio-economic backwardness

• Most push factors have a matching pull factor. Unemployment at home matches better jobs elsewhere, and turmoil matches peace.
• Medical and educational facilities are always a pull factor. NCERT's exercise asks which option is not a push factor, and this is the answer.

Theories built on push and pull

• Everett Lee (1966) turned push and pull into a fuller model. That is why it is often called the push-pull model. Every move involves four things: 1. Factors at the origin (pluses and minuses) 2. Factors at the destination (pluses and minuses) 3. Intervening obstacles: barriers between the two places, such as distance, travel cost, visa rules, borders and language 4. Personal factors: age, education, family and personality

• Key point: a strong push or pull is not enough on its own. The obstacles in between decide whether a person actually moves.

• Ravenstein's "Laws of Migration" (1885), based on British census data, came earlier:

• Economic motives are the main cause of migration. This is a pull of better jobs and wages.
• Most migrants move short distances.
• Long-distance migrants usually go to big centres of trade and industry. These centres have a strong pull.

When one side is missing

• Forced migration is push without pull.
• Conflict, persecution or disaster forces people out.
• They do not choose a destination for its attractions.

• This is how refugees and IDPs (internally displaced persons: people forced from home who stay inside their own country) are created.

• Climate migration is driven mainly by environmental push:

• Slow-onset push: sea-level rise, drought, desertification, salt water entering farmland.
• Sudden-onset push: floods, cyclones and storms.
• The chain: water becomes scarce, crops fail and coasts flood. People lose their livelihoods and move, mostly inside their own country.

Where it occurs

India

• Kerala → Gulf (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman):
• Push: Kerala has high literacy but few jobs for educated youth.
• Pull: the oil-rich Gulf countries need workers and pay higher wages.

• Result: a steady flow of migrants, and large remittances (money migrants send home) flowing back.

• Bihar → Punjab: internal migration. Farm labourers also move to Punjab for the harvest. The pull is seasonal work and wages.

• Rural-urban migration: villagers move to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. They are pushed by rural distress and pulled by jobs and better urban services.
• Sundarbans (West Bengal): islands such as Ghoramara are shrinking. This environmental push forces families to move.

World

• Mexico → USA: the world's largest migration corridor (a busy route between one origin and one destination).
• India → UAE and the rest of the Gulf: a major corridor. The GCC countries have the highest share of migrants in their populations. In the UAE and Qatar, most residents are migrants.
• Syria → Turkey: mostly refugees from the Syrian civil war. Push from conflict dominates.
• Sudan: 14.3 million displaced since April 2023, of whom 11.6 million are internally displaced. This is the largest internal displacement crisis ever recorded [3].
• Bangladesh delta (Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna): cyclones, river-bank erosion and salinity push people towards Dhaka and India.
• Pacific islands: low atoll nations (an atoll is a ring of coral islands only a few metres above the sea) such as Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands face push from sea-level rise.

Don't confuse with

• Intervening obstacles (Everett Lee): these are not push or pull factors. They are barriers between origin and destination, such as distance, cost, visas, borders and language.
• Voluntary vs forced migration: voluntary migration involves both push and pull. Forced migration (refugees, IDPs) is push without pull.
• Emigration vs immigration: push acts on the emigrant, who leaves the origin (E = Exit). Pull acts on the immigrant, who enters the destination (I = In). A Kerala worker in the UAE is an emigrant from India and an immigrant in the UAE.
• Climate migrant vs "climate refugee": environmental push creates climate migrants. However, "climate refugee" has no legal status, because the 1951 Refugee Convention covers only persecution.

Prelims Hooks

• NCERT trap: better medical and educational facilities are a pull factor, not a push factor. Unemployment, epidemics, political turmoil and natural disasters are push factors.
• Security of life and property and peace and stability are pull factors. Socio-economic backwardness is a push factor.
• Everett Lee (1966) = push-pull model + intervening obstacles + personal factors. Ravenstein (1885) = Laws of Migration, with economic motives as the main cause.
• Kerala → Gulf: push = few jobs for educated youth despite high literacy; pull = higher wages in the oil-rich Gulf.
• India is the world's top remittance receiver: about US$129 billion in 2024. It is followed by Mexico, China, the Philippines and Pakistan [2].
• Groundswell (2021): up to 216 million internal climate migrants by 2050. Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to have the most (86 million) [4].

Mains Points

• Push and pull in Indian migration (GS-I):
• Push: rural distress, the jobs gap between regions and socio-economic backwardness.
• Pull: jobs, wages and better services in cities and richer states.
• Effects at the origin: remittances and less pressure on land, but also brain drain (the loss of skilled people) and feminisation of agriculture (women left to run farms after men migrate).

• Effects at the destination: cheap labour and growth, but also slums, pressure on services and conflict between locals and migrants.

• Gulf pull and its risks:

• Remittances of about US$129 billion (2024) are more than India's FDI inflows [2]. They support family spending and the balance of payments, especially in Kerala.

• Depending on one region's pull is risky. Workers are exposed to oil-price shocks and the kafala system (sponsorship rules that tie workers to one employer). Crises can force evacuations, as during COVID-19 and conflicts in West Asia.

• Environmental push and policy response (GS-III):

• Up to 40 million internal climate migrants are projected for South Asia by 2050 [4]. Rising seas, cyclones and drought threaten the Sundarbans, Bangladesh and the Pacific islands.
• Responses: adaptation plans, managed relocation and social protection that workers can carry when they move (e.g. One Nation One Ration Card).
• Quick, joint action could reduce climate migration by up to 80 per cent [4].

Related concepts

• Migration
• Immigration
• Emigration
• International migrant stock
• Refugee
• Internally displaced person
• Climate migration

Read more

• Migration: types, push and pull, and the displaced