Social Studies: Geography: Push and Pull Factors of Migration Worksheet

Question 1

Define push factor and pull factor in your own words. Give one example of each.

Accepted Answer

A push factor is a condition that encourages people to leave a place, such as war or lack of jobs. A pull factor is a condition that attracts people to a new place, such as safety, better schools, or job opportunities.

Question 2

A farming family leaves an area after several years of drought have destroyed their crops. Is drought acting as a push factor or a pull factor? Explain your answer.

Accepted Answer

Drought is acting as a push factor because it makes life difficult in the family's home area and encourages them to leave.

Question 3

A city advertises many new factory jobs, affordable housing, and public transportation. Explain how these conditions could affect migration.

Accepted Answer

These conditions could act as pull factors because they make the city attractive to people who are looking for work, a place to live, and easier ways to travel.

Question 4

Classify each factor as push or pull: political persecution, higher wages, religious freedom, flooding, better universities.

Accepted Answer

Political persecution is a push factor because it may force people to leave. Higher wages are a pull factor because they attract workers. Religious freedom is a pull factor because it attracts people seeking safety for their beliefs. Flooding is a push factor because it can make an area unsafe. Better universities are a pull factor because they attract students and families.

Question 5

Look at the imagined migration map. Three arrows point from a rural region to a coastal city. The rural region has labels for few jobs and poor soil. The city has labels for ports, schools, and hospitals. Identify two push factors and two pull factors shown on the map.

Accepted Answer

The two push factors are few jobs and poor soil because they make people want to leave the rural region. The two pull factors are ports, schools, and hospitals because they make the coastal city more attractive.

Question 6

During the 1800s, many people moved to cities during industrialization. Explain one likely push factor from rural areas and one likely pull factor from cities.

Accepted Answer

One likely push factor from rural areas was limited farmland or fewer farming jobs. One likely pull factor from cities was the growth of factory jobs that offered wages.

Question 7

A person leaves a country because of civil war and moves to another country where their relatives already live. Identify the push factor and the pull factor in this situation.

Accepted Answer

The push factor is civil war because it creates danger and instability in the home country. The pull factor is having relatives in the new country because family connections can provide help and support.

Question 8

Explain why migration decisions often include more than one push or pull factor.

Accepted Answer

Migration decisions often include more than one factor because people consider safety, jobs, family, education, climate, and many other needs at the same time. A person may leave because of danger but choose a destination because of work and family support.

Question 9

A coastal community is hit by stronger storms each year. Some residents move inland where insurance costs are lower and jobs in construction are increasing. Explain the push and pull factors.

Accepted Answer

The stronger storms are push factors because they make the coastal community more dangerous and costly. Lower insurance costs and more construction jobs are pull factors because they make the inland area more appealing.

Question 10

Read the statement: I moved because my home region had few schools, and I wanted my children to have more educational opportunities. Is the main reason a push factor, a pull factor, or both? Explain.

Accepted Answer

The statement includes both factors. Few schools in the home region is a push factor because it makes the family want to leave. More educational opportunities in the new place is a pull factor because it attracts the family.

Question 11

Create a cause and effect sentence about migration using these terms: unemployment, new jobs, migration.

Accepted Answer

A clear sentence could be: Unemployment can push people to leave their home area, while new jobs can pull them toward another place, causing migration.

Question 12

A bar graph shows that Region A has 18 percent unemployment and Region B has 4 percent unemployment. Many people move from Region A to Region B. Explain how the graph helps show a push and pull factor.

Accepted Answer

The graph shows that high unemployment in Region A is a push factor because it may make people leave. Low unemployment in Region B is a pull factor because it suggests more job opportunities.

Question 13

How can government policies become either push or pull factors for migration? Give one example of each.

Accepted Answer

Government policies can be push factors if they limit rights, create unfair treatment, or make people feel unsafe. They can be pull factors if they protect freedoms, offer legal work opportunities, or support new residents.

Question 14

Study the imagined timeline of a family's migration: Year 1, crop prices fall. Year 2, a flood damages their home. Year 3, a nearby country opens a program for farm workers. Year 4, the family moves. Identify the push factors and pull factor from the timeline.

Accepted Answer

The push factors are falling crop prices and the flood because both made life harder in the family's home area. The pull factor is the farm worker program in the nearby country because it offered an opportunity that attracted the family.

Question 15

Write a short paragraph explaining how push and pull factors can change the population of both the place people leave and the place people enter.

Accepted Answer

Push and pull factors can reduce the population of the place people leave, especially if many people move away for safety, jobs, or education. They can increase the population of the destination, which may add workers, students, cultures, and new needs for housing, schools, and services.

Social Studies: Geography: Push and Pull Factors of Migration

Related Cheat Sheets

More Social Studies Worksheets

More Grade 6-8 Worksheets