Push and Pull Factors in Voluntary and Economic Migration

Push factors are the conditions that drive people to leave a place, and pull factors are the attractions that draw them to another place; in voluntary and economic migration, people weigh the two and decide whether the benefits of moving outweigh the costs. In brief: typical push factors are unemployment, low wages, poor services, conflict and environmental hazards, while typical pull factors are jobs, higher incomes, better education and healthcare, safety and family ties. Between them stand intervening obstacles such as cost, distance, borders and language.

The push-pull idea is a simple way to explain why people move, though real decisions are more complex. This guide explains the main types of factors, intervening obstacles, how to apply the gravity model, compares the factors in a table, works through example calculations, outlines the history of the theory and corrects common mistakes.

What are push factors?

Push factors make life difficult in the place of origin. They can be grouped by type.

• Economic: unemployment, low wages, poverty, lack of land and crop failure.
• Social: poor schools and healthcare, discrimination, lack of opportunities for advancement.
• Political: conflict, persecution, corruption, weak governance (these overlap with forced migration).
• Environmental: drought, flooding, soil degradation, earthquakes and rising sea levels.

What are pull factors?

Pull factors make another place attractive. Economic pull factors include job opportunities and higher wages. Social pull factors include better schools, universities and healthcare, and the presence of family and friends who can offer help. Political pull factors include safety, stability, freedom and protection of rights. Environmental pull factors include a pleasant climate and attractive landscapes, which matter for retirement migration. Pull factors are often based on perceptions or on information from earlier migrants, and may not match reality: new arrivals can find jobs scarcer or housing more expensive than expected.

What are intervening obstacles?

Everett Lee, in his 1966 theory of migration, stressed that between origin and destination lie intervening obstacles, and that personal factors also matter. Obstacles include the cost of travel, distance, immigration laws and visas, language and cultural barriers, lack of information, family obligations and physical barriers such as seas and mountains. Because of these obstacles, the poorest people often cannot afford to move far, and many migrants move in stages, for example from a village to a nearby town and then to a capital city, and sometimes abroad.

Migration also depends on the individual. Young adults are the most likely to move, as are people with education or contacts abroad. Chain migration occurs when earlier migrants help relatives and friends to follow, creating communities of the same origin in destination cities.

What is the gravity model of migration?

The gravity model, borrowed from physics, predicts that the flow of migrants between two places is greater when the places have larger populations and smaller when they are farther apart. A simple form is: flow = (population A × population B) ÷ (distance)², multiplied by a constant. It explains why more people move between large, nearby cities than between small, remote ones. The model is only an approximation, because it ignores borders, jobs, languages and other factors.

Push and pull factors compared

Worked example: gravity and remittances

1. Gravity model: use the constant k = 1 for simplicity. City A has 4 million people, city B has 2 million and they are 100 km apart. The relative flow is (4 × 2) ÷ 100² = 8 ÷ 10,000 = 0.0008.
2. Effect of distance: if the distance is doubled to 200 km, the flow is 8 ÷ 40,000 = 0.0002, which is a quarter of the previous value, because the distance is squared.
3. Effect of size: if city B doubles to 4 million at 100 km, the flow is (4 × 4) ÷ 10,000 = 0.0016, twice the original.
4. Wage gap: a worker earns 4,000 per year at home and could earn 16,000 abroad. The gap is 12,000 per year. If the costs of moving are 6,000 once, the extra income repays the cost in 6,000 ÷ 12,000 = 0.5 years, ignoring living cost differences. If living costs abroad take 8,000 of the extra income, the net gain is 4,000 per year and payback takes 6,000 ÷ 4,000 = 1.5 years.
5. Remittances: a migrant sends home 150 per month, which is 150 × 12 = 1,800 per year. If the home family’s income was 4,000, the remittance raises it by 1,800 ÷ 4,000 = 45%.

How did migration theory develop?

The geographer Ernst Georg Ravenstein formulated his “laws of migration” in 1885 and 1889 from British census data. He noted that most migrants move short distances, that migration proceeds in steps toward large commercial centers, that every stream produces a counterstream and that economic motives dominate. Everett Lee gave the push-pull framework its classic form in 1966. Later economists emphasized wage differences and expected income, and sociologists stressed networks and household strategies. Today, scholars combine these ideas and also study migration policy, global inequality and the effects of climate change.

Which mistakes are common?

Mistake 1: Treating the decision as purely economic

Family, safety, culture, networks and personal preference also influence who moves and where.

Mistake 2: Assuming that the poorest people migrate the most

Migration costs money and information. The poorest often move least, and many international migrants are from middle-income households.

Mistake 3: Forgetting the intervening obstacles

Strict visa rules or high costs can prevent movement even when push and pull factors are strong.

Mistake 4: Taking the gravity model as exact

It gives a rough estimate of flows. Real migration depends on many other factors, such as borders, language and job conditions.