Population Movement

Abstract

Three factors determine the rate of population growth of a country — birth rate, death rate and rate of migration (emigration and immigration). Of these, the rate of migration is the most difficult to measure as so much depends on the reliability of the information obtained from different countries. It is only possible to assess the effect of migration on population structure if the data from both sending and receiving countries at least distinguish between long-term and short-term migrants and indicate the extent of reflux (the difference between gross and net emigration or immigration). Net migration is best recorded as the difference between the recorded inter-censal population change and the natural increase of the population (birth rate minus death rate).