Are People who come to a new country region or environment to settle more or less permanently?

Immigration has existed during the whole history of humankind and people have moved from their home places for centuries, for all sorts of reasons.

Long ago nomad tribes roamed in search of new pastures for their livestock, new places for hunting, and fishery. After people started to migrate, in search of more fertile lands and create new settlements. Today migration still takes place all around the world, is the process that takes place when an individual or a group lives one country for another with the intention to settle permanently down in that country.

Immigration is also a phenomenon that happens inside the countries as well, people leave the rural areas and move to the capital or larger cities looking for better opportunities.

Among the major regions of the world, the largest number of international migrants in 2020 resided in Europe, with a total of 87 million. Northern America hosted the second largest number of migrants, with almost 59 million. Northern Africa and Western Asia followed with a total of nearly 50 million.

There may be several reasons why people would want to leave their country of birth, and we have selected the most common ones:

1. To Escape Conflict Zones

This is one of the older and most common causes of immigration people feel the need to leave their country of birth to escape conflict and feel safe. Individuals living in war-torn countries like some parts of the middle east, feel the need to immigrate to get away from the fighting and to escape danger.

Between 2000 and 2020, the number that had fled conflict, crises, persecution, violence, or human rights violations doubled from 17 to 34 million.

2. Due To Environmental Factors

Climate change also has a responsibility for immigration, with the continually over nature through force. Sometimes nature strikes back rendering man homeless and helpless. Due to sudden storms, floods, tsunamis, and several other natural disasters people need to flee and seek asylum in another relatively safer environment.

3. Escape Poverty

Can be a big difference between salaries and working conditions between countries, many developed countries provide a social network that makes those countries attractive for people from less developed countries.
Also, many people immigrate to escape from high unemployment and lack of opportunities in their home country.

In 2020, 73 percent of all international migrants were between the ages of 20 and 64 years, compared to 57 percent for the total population.

4. High Standard Of Living

By moving to a different nation, you people are looking for a higher standard of living. Not talking only about money but cleaner, healthier, and a better quality of life.

Nearly two thirds of all international migrants live in high-income countries

5. Personal Needs

Some people genuinely believe they belong in a different country. Many times minorities (religious or sexual) have seen the need to move from their home country to a more tolerant nation, so they can begin the life they always wanted.

6. Higher Education

This is one of the top reasons people immigrate, especially the younger ones are to pursue higher education in a field that can be not available in their country, or better universities are available abroad. Once you move to study many times, they enjoy better their new place and extend their stay indefinitely.

7. Love

Now isn’t necessarily people to meet in person, the internet opens new opportunities to everybody, and brings people closer together emotionally. Every day people are moving to the other end of the world people to be with their loved ones, it isn’t as strange and uncommon as it sounds.

8. Family Influences

When a family member moves abroad, and friend and family from back home can see how well they’ve settled in, developing a new life and enjoying their new lifestyle it adds an aspiration value of moving too. It also gives you enough stimulus to think that you will have someone to support you when you initially move.

9. Advertisement offer a better life

Have been cases during history that countries offer excellent conditions and initial support to immigrants that fulfil certain requirements, like for example knowing the language, certain age or ready to live in a particular area of the welcoming country.

10. Better Healthcare

Depending on your financial situation you would like to provide the best possible healthcare to your family. Some people migrate to access affordable healthcare. Several nations offer free healthcare to their citizens.

11. Be Closer to Nature

Many people shift their entire lives, leaving their old life behind so that they can live closer to nature. It happens more frequently than you may think.

12. Political Reasons

Some people immigrate from restrictive countries in search of political freedom. Some change their citizenship to gain a new identity, and some to get political rights that were missing in the home country.

13. Seeking change or adventure

Many adventure-seekers stay for less than a couple of years, but some stay longer and start a new life in the chosen country.

14. Missionary work

They are sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country, and many times they decide to stay in the country that they were sent.

These are some of the top reasons why people immigrate! If you are one of those who are planning to immigrate, then it is always a good idea to get first-hand information about the country you planning to move, not all that glitters is gold.

While the reasons to move may seem different, everyone that moves and take the step to immigrate do it to improve their lives, remember isn’t a natural process, can be big stress and even dangerous, let’s be more tolerant and help immigrants to integrate to our society.

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According to IOM, people who move voluntarily within a country are called internal migrants and move for several reasons, both formally and informally. If their movement is forced, they are referred to as internally displaced persons (IDP).

Internal movements from rural areas to urban areas is called urbanization or urban transition.

Migrants who move within the borders of their country are called internal migrants, that is, people seeking a new temporary or permanent residence, regardless of the reasons for doing so. A conservative estimate from UNDP in 2009 estimated that the global figure of internal migrants was 740 million. However, this estimate is uncertain, in part because according to the series of research on migration “International migration, internal migration, mobility and urbanization”, the greater the population of a country, the greater its percentage of internal migrants. This is also partly because of the complexity of defining the limits of this category: how far should a person be mobilized to be considered an internal migrant? How much time should they spend in this new residence? These and other questions make it difficult to measure the population that migrates within the borders of a State, and few countries keep records in this regard. Population censuses are often the most frequently used instruments to measure internal migration.

Within the category of internal migrants are internally displaced persons, who, although they do not cross an internationally recognized state border, are forced to move, “in particular as a result of or to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of widespread violence , violations of human rights or natural or human-caused disasters ”, as defined by the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement.

According to the Global Internal Displacement Report 2019, in 2018, the Americas region represented 3.7% of global internal displacements due to conflict, and 9.8% of displacements due to natural disasters. This reinforces, as the report says, that internal displacement is a global challenge, but it is concentrated mainly in some countries and regions, such as Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria.

According to the UN Population and Development Commission, urbanization or urban transition is related to “a change in a population that is dispersed in small rural settlements, in which agriculture is the dominant economic activity, towards one that is it concentrates on larger and denser urban settlements characterized by a domain of industrial activities and services”. Urbanization differs from urban growth in that the former means a movement of people, and the latter refers to an increase in the urban population. The definition of what is urban and rural changes from country to country. It is relevant to note that Central America is the second highest region in the world in terms of urbanization rates and is only surpassed by Africa.

The Migration Data Portal indicates that urbanization generally occurs through processes such as natural population growth; when more people move from rural to urban areas; when the limits of what is considered urban are extended; and as a result of the creation of new urban centers. Although there are other types of internal migration flows, such as rural-to-rural, urban-to-urban, and urban-to-rural, it is the transition to the urban that has gained increased the most significantly.

Internal migrants, internally displaced persons and those who move to urban areas can be in more than one category at the same time and from there they can sometimes get confused. In addition, we must bear in mind that people come and go, adjust their residence for short or long periods of time, and therefore migration is not necessarily a linear process. Instead, it is complex and fluid and occurs in different times and spaces. The factors that promote internal migration are multiple and combine with each other. These include social, political, economic, demographic, environmental and climate issues. Internal migration can also give rise to international movements, both within the framework of forced displacement and more voluntary processes.