Ravenstein’s “Laws” of Migration By: Carson Burick

Who is Ravenstein? Ernst Georg Ravenstein was a German-English geographer cartographer. Lived from 30 December 1834 – 13 March 1913 Established a theory of human migration in the 1880’s He called the list of these 11 rules the “Laws of Migration”

“Laws of Migration” List of 11 “laws” for why people migrate Were published between 1876-1889 Considered the implications of distance and different types of migrant The laws can be organized into three groups: the reasons why migrants move, the distance they typically move, and their characteristics

Law #1 The majority of migrants move only a short distance in any one migration. In his time period, technology did not allow for migrants to travel far.

Law #2 Migration proceeds step-by-step. Migrants had to take multiply steps to migrate to the area they desired.

Law #3 Each current of migration produces a counter current. For every wave of migration, another wave is produced from the first wave.

Law #4 Females are more migratory than males within the country of their birth, but males more frequently venture beyond that country boundary. Women are more likely to migrate in the same country there already live in, but men are more likely to migrate outside of the country.

Law #5 Most migrants are adults; families rarely migrate out of their country of birth. It is hard for families with small children to migrate far outside of their country.

Law #6 Migrants moving long distances generally go by preference to the great centers of commerce or industry. Migrants that travel far want to make most of their trip by going to well developed industrial areas.

Law #7 The natives of towns are less migratory than those of rural areas. People living in towns/communities are less migratory because they already live in a community with a market and jobs and services.

Law #8 Large towns grow more by migration than birth rate. Large communities grow more because of migration and not because of natural rate of increase.

Law #9 Migration increases as industries and commerce develop and transport improves. It is easier for people to migrant with better transportation and better commerce is a pull factor for migrants.

Law #10 The major direction of migration is from agricultural to industrial or commercial centers. Most migrants are moving from farm areas to more developed cities and communities with industry and a bigger market.

Law #11 The major cause of migration is economic reasons. The biggest reason people migrate is because of economic instability or wanting to get to a more economic community with more opportunities in industry or the market place.