In the 1950s, Geographers and Demographers were increasingly attracted to methods of positivist sciences such as physics and mathematics. Therefore, they used different theories and models of these sciences in their own field to gain validation from the scientific community. This paradigm in social sciences is known as quantitative revolution. The Gravity Model of Migration … Read more
Samuel A. Stouffer gave the theory of intervening opportunities in his work “Intervening Opportunities: A Theory Relating Mobility and Distance” in 1940. This theory shows that the nature of geographic space is more important than the distance in determining migration behavior. According to Ravenstein’s Laws, distance is the most important factor in determining the migration … Read more
Everett S. Lee’s Theory of Migration (1966) or Intervening Obstacles Model aimed to eliminate the shortcomings of the previous theories of migration by inculcating both opportunities and problems as factors of migration. Previously, most of the studies focused on making general unidimensional laws to explain migration e.g. Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration. However, none of these … Read more
Ernest George Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration are based on the data in Census of Great Britain. He was the pioneer demographer who provided the theoretical framework for understanding the spatial movement of migrants. He was a fellow at Royal Geographic Society and presented his paper in 1885 at Statistical Society of England. All other theories … Read more
Thomas Malthus was a demographer and economist. His main interest was in studying the impact of growing population on the economy of a country and welfare of its people. Malthus explained his theory of population growth in “An Essay on the Principle of Population” published in 1798. Malthusian theory of population growth is based on … Read more
Population Density is a quantitative measure that presents a ratio between the population of a region and its corresponding total geographical area. Researchers use population density for comparative studies in demography or population study. Further, the population density also helps us to understand the population-resource relationship. It assists in getting a better understanding of the … Read more
Population is unevenly spread all over the world. You might have also observed this in your locality. Some places have low concentration of population whereas some areas have high concentration of population. In the world low concentration of population are found in deserts, dense forests, mountainous areas etc. Similarly, there are many areas like coastal … Read more
India is a large and diverse country. Most of its diversity is contributed by immigration. The Mobility Transition Model in India has great relevance. It has one of the oldest civilization in the world. India have not found any evidence of primitive men like in Africa and Europe. Therefore, it can be said that most … Read more
Wilbur Zelinsky propounded the mobility transition model of migration in 1971. He analyzed the migration behavior of people in correspondence with Demographic Transition Model. Previous models like Ravenstein’s Laws, Lee’s Intervening Obstacles and Stouffer’s Intervening Opportunities etc. only analyzed process of migration as a result of constant pull and push between places. Whereas, Zelinsky’s model … Read more
Human population growth is dependent on many social, economic and political factors. Warren Thompson (1929) and Frank Notestein (1945) proposed Demographic Transition Model after studying these factors and their effect on population growth in Europe, Australia and North America. Basic Idea behind Demographic Transition Theory Basically, demographic transition model explains the trajectory of population growth … Read more