Going away to college is a form of migration.

Population migration is a form of population movement, a change in the spatial distribution of the population. Population movement must be a certain distance away from the original place of residence, generally on the basis of crossing administrative boundaries, thus excluding populations that change their place of residence within the same administrative area.

Population movements can be categorized into two types: international and internal.

International migration is a phenomenon in which the inhabitants of one country enter and settle in another country, and it includes permanent immigration, the movement of foreign workers, and international refugee settlement.

Internal migration is a phenomenon in which residents within a country settle from one administrative region into another.

Expanded Information

Economic reasons are the main reasons for population migration, such as to get rid of poverty and unemployment, to improve their lives, or to become rich and successful in their careers. In addition, politics, religion, culture and wars and disasters may also cause migration.

The direct consequences of population migration are manifested in the different effects on the size, gender and age composition of the population in the out-migrating and in-migrating areas. Generally there are more males than females among migrants, and more young people migrate than children and the elderly.

In terms of indirect economic and social consequences, the out-migration area has reduced population pressure and may receive income from migrant remittances, but the labor force is reduced, especially the labor force with skilled skills and high literacy level, so that the out-migration area has suffered a great loss of maintenance and education costs. For the in-migration area, it is economically favorable due to the increase in population and labor force, but it may also bring ethnic conflicts or other social problems.

Political factors have a special impact on population migration. Among them, policies, political changes and wars are important influences. A country's policies, especially the implementation of policies concerning population migration, can have a significant impact on population migration.

Reasonable policies can promote reasonable and normal migration; however, if the policies are unreasonable, or if they are reasonable but the measures to implement them are not reasonable, they may have the opposite effect. War destroys the normal living environment of human beings and often triggers population movements.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Population Migration