Skip to content
    History GCSE

    Push and pull factors

    What Push and pull factors means in History GCSE, as defined for OCR, Pearson Edexcel.

    Definitions of Push and pull factors

    Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.

    Check what you remember

    Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Push and pull factors in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.

    Reference: Pearson Edexcel

    Reasons for moving included seeking better employment and higher wages, while Irish migrants fled poverty and the 1840s Famine and European Jewish refugees fled persecution.
    Pearson Edexcel · Option 13: c1700–c1900: Migration in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain - 1 The context for migration (study guide)
    A push factor operates in the country of origin, while a pull factor operates in Britain; state clearly which side the cause lay on.
    OCR · Urban Environments: Patterns of Migration (J410/11) - When immigrant groups arrived, why and from where

    Topics that use Push and pull factors

    Related terms

    Using Push and pull factors in the exam

    Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.

    Practise History questions

    Create a free account to answer exam-style questions on this topic and get feedback on your answers.

    Start free

    A week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge

    All History GCSE terms