Unit 1 - Migration & Immigration

Encourage

• Trade blocks like the EU can also encourage migration as any EU citizen can live and work in any EU country
• Investment from TNCs can develop urban areas and other countries which will allow encourage movement

Discourage

• Many EU countries are being influenced by right wing politicians to block immigrations
• Countries outside of trade blocks may find themselves struggling to immigrate

Internal

• Equal rights for women have seen a drop in birth rates as more women are chasing a career
• The establishment of the NHS in 1948 has increased life expectancy
• There has been internal migration to the South East and London

External

• Global recession means people have less money and cannot afford many children
• Baby boom after the war means there are lots of people at a certain age
• EU membership has increased immigration to the UK

Social

• Increased pressure on public services
• Unequal distribution as some areas have more retired people than others
• Due to having to look after elderly dependents the working population is unable to afford to have children, this will cause a cycle of an ageing population
• Low state pension forces many pensioners into poverty

Economic

• An older population means fewer people working and paying tax so there is less funding for the large group of people that need it
• With a smaller workforce taxes may rise to compensate, this could lead to friction between the age groups
• There will be an increase in grey pound spending
• Baby boomers (1947-1960) are a large group in the UK who are begining to retire which will become a huge strain in resources in the next 10 years

• Increase the age of retirement from 65 for men and 60 for women to 67 for men and 62 for women
• Encourage immigration of working age people to the UK to lower the dependency ratio
• Encourage more women to have children
• Offer employment opportunities for over 55s which utilise thier skills and experiances

Push

• Rising cost of living in the UK
• Wet and cold climate in the UK
• Lack of employment opportunities

Pull

• Lower cost of living in Spain
• Spain has a warm, regular climate that can improve life expectancy and certain medical issues
• Job opportunities

Why it is easy

• Budget airlines make travel affordable
• Improved communications make it easier to stay in contact with people in the UK
• More socially acceptable to move away from family

Consequences for Spain

• + Benefits from grey pound spending
• + Additional toursim from family visting Migrants
• - Spain will have a greater number of 65+ people which will strain spanish services 
• - UK migrants can vote so politicians can try to win their vote which may lead to tension between UK migrants and Spanish natives
• UK migrants may stick together and form "mini Britain" and reject spanish culture

Consequnces for the UK

• - Grandparents often supply free childcare and support which would be lost
• - Loss of grey pound spending
• - Valuable workplace experiance and workplace skills are lost
• + Reduced strain on services
• + Potentialy less tax burden on working population
• + Less competition for housing and jobs 

Push

• High unemployment 
• Low average wages
• Limited housing availability
• Poor entrepreneurship opportunities

Pull

• Easy migration
• Good exchange rate so remittance value is boosted
• Plently of well-paid jobs

Consequences for the UK

• + Polish workers have generated income
• + Cultural influence 
• +Skills in the workforce have been filled
• - Most migrants are concentrated so these areas have strained services 

Consequences for Poland

• + Polish economy will grow through remittance 
• + Fewer issues with housing shortage and education 
• - The Polish people that have left are of working age so birth rate has dropped rapidly, this may lead to issues such as an ageing population in the future
• - The lack of workers has stagnated the economies growth 

Push

• High unemployment due to mechanisation 
• Gender imbalance in rural areas means that men need to move to find a partner
• There is still absolute poverty in some rural areas
• Lower quality of life such as poor education and job opportunities 
• Corruption is wide spread in some rural areas

Pull

• Higher employment and job opportunities
• Higher wages, often more than 300%
• Higer standards of living, better education and access to university
• Chinese TV and media portrays urban areas in a more positive light 
• Better entertainment opportunities

• Introduce services such as sanitation and electricity
• Allow the slums residents to purchase the land, this will see more investment in housing 
• Create traditional jobs that can be taxed, this will allow the taxes to be invested into improving the slum
• Introduce better disaster preparedness 
• Break the influence of gangs through investment of education and better job opportunities 
• Create better access to healthcare, family plannin in particular 
• Invest in rural areas to slow urbanisation 

Problems 

• Housing shortages as a result of price
• Cities have a huge ecological footprint as they consume huge amounts of power and other resources such as water, this will only worsen as the population increases
• As affluence rises more people will buy cars, leading to increased congestion and therefore air pollution
• Some cities such as London may be at risk from climate change as the Thames floods

Sustainable solutions

• Build more carbon netural homes to reduce fossil fuel use
• Recycle water
• Have a greater use of renewables, Self-sufficient power is the key to sustainable growth
• Recylce and burn waster as fuel
• Work on water purification, desalination is an option
• Provide efficient and cheap public transport

Dongtan, China (Not built yet)

• All housing will be carbon neutral with their energy produced by solar power. The houses will also be well insulated
• The population will be made up of current residents of Shanghai to ease pressure there
• Vehicles that run off petrol and diesel will be banned from the city
• Power for the city will come from Wind turbines and bio fuel

Curitbia, Brazil

• 70% recycling rate
• Bus system has decreased traffic by 30% whilst the population has increased by 300%
• Built parks to control flooding, the grass is maintained by sheep
• GDP per person has risen from less than Brazil's average to 66% greater than Brazil's average