migration
Movement from one place to another, often by people or animals.
ExampleThe reading passage explains why bird migration patterns are changing.
ExampleClimate change has altered the migration routes of several marine species.
Usage Scenarios
Movement with a reason
Recognize migration when the passage explains movement by people or animals and gives a reason such as climate, food, work, or safety.
ExampleThe reading passage explains why bird migration patterns are changing.
Pattern or route change
IELTS passages often connect migration to routes, timing, population pressure, or environmental change rather than simple travel.
ExampleClimate change has altered the migration routes of several marine species.
Usage Guide
Recognize migration when a passage describes movement between places and gives a reason for that movement. The subject may be birds, marine animals, workers, or rural populations.
High-value reading chunks include bird migration, seasonal migration, migration route, migration pattern, and rural-urban migration; each chunk points to a different cause or scale of movement.
Do not read migration as ordinary travel. IELTS passages usually connect it to pressure, adaptation, employment, food supply, climate, or habitat.
Word Forms & Word Building
Migration is built from migrate plus the noun suffix -ion. The final -e in migrate drops before -ion, so migrate becomes migration.
Migrate is the verb, migration is the movement process, and migratory is the adjective in phrases like migratory birds and migratory patterns.
In IELTS reading, the modifier before migration matters: seasonal migration, rural-urban migration, and economic migration point to different causes.
Meaning Boundaries
Migration vs travel
Travel can be short and individual. Migration is larger movement by people or animals, usually connected to seasons, work, climate, food, or safety.
Migration vs immigration
Immigration focuses on entering a country to live. Migration is broader and can describe animal movement, internal movement, or repeated seasonal movement.
Best IELTS context
Expect migration in passages about birds, marine animals, population change, rural-urban movement, employment, climate pressure, and habitat change.
Memory Tricks
Store migration with movement plus reason. IELTS passages usually explain why people or animals move, not just that movement happens.
Useful chunks include bird migration, seasonal migration, migration route, and rural-urban migration.
When reading, identify the group moving, the direction of movement, and the pressure behind it, such as food, climate, work, or safety.
Common Traps
Do not read migration as ordinary travel or tourism. It usually involves a larger movement of people or animals between regions or habitats.
Check whether the passage describes seasonal, forced, economic, rural-urban, or animal migration; the cause changes the meaning of the paragraph.
Migration can be temporary or repeated, so do not assume it always means permanent relocation.