Push Factors: Why People Leave

In geography, people don't just move for fun; they usually have a reason. We call these reasons push factors. Think of a push factor like a giant invisible hand pushing someone away from their current home because the conditions there have become difficult or dangerous. These factors are negative things happening in the place where a person lives. There are three main 'buckets' these factors fall into: Economic (money), Environmental (nature), and Political/Social (safety and rights). Understanding these helps us see the world through the eyes of a migrant—someone who moves from one place to another.

The most common reason people move is for money. This is an economic push factor. If a country has a high rate of unemployment (meaning many people don't have jobs), families struggle to buy food or pay for housing. Sometimes, a country might experience poverty on a large scale. For example, if a factory that employs the whole town closes down, the workers no longer have a way to support themselves. They are 'pushed' to leave that town to find a place where they can work and earn a living. In some cases, the cost of living might rise by $100\%$ or more, making it impossible for normal families to survive.

Sometimes, the land itself becomes the problem. Environmental push factors happen when natural events make a place unlivable. This can be sudden, like a natural disaster (earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes), or slow, like climate change. A long-term drought—a period with no rain—can cause crops to fail. If a farmer cannot grow food for $3$ or $4$ years in a row, they have no choice but to move. As global temperatures rise, some coastal areas are even facing rising sea levels, which slowly floods homes and forces people to move inland.

The most urgent push factors are political or social. When a country is at war, daily life becomes a matter of survival. Buildings are destroyed, and basic services like electricity and hospitals stop working. Another factor is persecution. This is when people are treated unfairly or even harmed because of their religion, race, or political beliefs. People fleeing these dangerous situations are often called refugees. They aren't looking for a better job; they are looking for a place where they won't be in danger. Safety is a 'push' that can make millions of people move across borders at the same time.