Migration & Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, LEDC: Rural to Urban Migration Case Study

Migration occurs when the movement of people from one region or country to another occurs. Migration can also be classified in many ways:

• Permanent: moving permanently to another area, as if to live there for the rest of their lives.
• Temporary: moving somewhere for a period of time only.
• Forced: their only choice is to move.
• Voluntary: they would like to move.
• National: within the country one is in.
• International: to a different country.

Emigration is when people classified as emigrants leave a region or country. Immigration is people classified as immigrants enter a region or country.

Why do people move?
Push factors: cause people to leave

• low wages so low standard of living
• lack of job opportunities
• poor quality of life
• lack of amenities e.g. hospitals and schools
• conflict e.g. civil war and oppression
• natural hazard e.g. volcano or drought

Pull factors: attract people to an area

• high wages and improved standard of living
• improved job opportunities, promotion
• better amenities and services
• improved quality of life
• better environment, no natural hazards
• freedom from oppression

Rural - Poverty, lack or opportunity, no secondary schools. Young, skilled and able people leave. The elderly, females, less able and sick are left behind, leading to greater inefficiency in farming and more poverty.

Urban - Growing number of new arrivals in the city increases pressure on already limited opportunities. Shortage of housing means people live in poor conditions. Lack of regular paid work leads to crime and poverty.

Rio De Janeiro is a city in Brazil, holding 10.2 million people. The mountains that surround the bay have restricted growth, yet the city is still congested and noisy because of the Rural to Urban Migration. Favelas grow on the steep hillsides of the city: yet some are washed away by severe rainstorms. In 1988, 200 people died due to mudslides which engulfed them and their homes. Some of the earliest Favelas are 30 years old, well established and built with stone and brick. Suburbs have also now emerged, with houses of three or four storeys.

Rocinha, the largest Favela in the city is situated on the hillside of Rio De Janeiro. It houses 100,000 people, but the pathways between the buildings are too narrow for cars, showing the close proximity in which the citizens live in, meaning everything must be moved by hand. Houses are small yet solid, and if another room is needed, it is built on top of the house. This Favela is quite developed, with schools,…