Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration-1885

 Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration-1885

The first attempt to spell out the ‘laws of migration’ was made by E.G. Ravenstein as early as in 1885. Using the birthplace data, Ravenstein identified a set of generalizations, which he called as ‘laws of migration’ concerning inter-county migration in Britain in the nineteenth century. Most of these generalizations hold good even today.

Ravenstein's Laws of Migration:

1.Most migrants move only a short distance.

2.There is a process of absorption, whereby people immediately surrounding a rapidly growing town move into it and the gaps they leave are filled by migrants from more distant areas, and so on until the attractive force [pull factors] is spent.

3.There is a process of dispersion, which is the inverse of absorption.

4.Each migration flow produces a compensating counter-flow.

5.Long-distance migrants go to one of the great centers of commerce and industry.

6.Natives of towns are less migratory than those from rural areas.

7.Females are more migratory than males.

8.Economic factors are the main cause of migration.

That migration tends to decline with increasing distance is almost i universal fact. Evidences also indicate that there are generally currents and counter-currents in the migration process.It has also been established that development and modernization promote internal migration.