ABSTRACT
This chapter turns to the third major component of population change – migration – and examines how population movements of whatever kind have affected and have been affected by the processes of development, defined, as in the previous chapters, as the broad patterns of economic social and cultural change and overall well-being of the population concerned. Together with mortality and fertility, migration is integral to the essentially reflexive relationships between population and development. Migration, at the source areas of any move as well as at their destination, affects both the level and the patterns of development; and development affects both the scale and
patterns of movement to and from any area. Like mortality and fertility, migration is intrinsically responsive to development, and, like fertility but unlike mortality, usually contains a large element of conscious choice, in this case about whether to move or not. Unlike both fertility and mortality, however, there are no major biological factors directly involved in the decision to move, though clearly the biologically endowed physical strength is an important contributing factor differentiating males and females, and especially young adult males, for the many unskilled labouring tasks undertaken throughout the world by migrant labourers. In principle, therefore, we are dealing with the causes and impacts of human decisions when we consider migration and its relationships with development. Except in extreme cases of forced migration and for refugees, migrants generally choose to migrate, whether as individuals or as family or other groups.
