What does emigration mean?
Emigration is the act of leaving one's own country in order to settle in another, usually on a permanent basis. It names the outward half of migration: from the perspective of the country departed, a person emigrates; from that of the destination, the same person immigrates. This directional framing makes the word indispensable in demography, history, and public policy, where writers distinguish carefully between emigration rates and immigration rates when discussing population change. The term carries no inherent praise or blame, though it often appears in contexts of hardship — famine, war, persecution, or economic collapse — as well as opportunity. Common collocations include 'mass emigration', 'a wave of emigration', and 'emigration rate'. Related forms include the verb 'emigrate' and the noun 'emigrant', which denotes the person making the move. Understanding the word means grasping this point of view: every emigration story, told from the other shore, becomes an immigration story.
nounThe act or process of leaving one's own country to settle permanently in another.
- The act of leaving one's country of residence to live elsewhere, especially permanently.
- A body or wave of people who have left their homeland (e.g. 'the great emigration of the 1840s').
"Mass emigration from Ireland during the Great Famine reshaped the demographics of North America."
"Emigration from rural villages emptied entire regions of their young workers."
"Historians attribute the surge in emigration to economic collapse and political unrest."
Rarely used in the plural; the noun is almost always treated as uncountable. Plural form appears mainly in academic writing to denote distinct instances or waves of departure.
"Several major emigrations shaped the island's population over the centuries."
Every emigrant is simultaneously someone else's immigrant — the same journey, just told from opposite shores.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of emigration
Emigration derives from Latin emigrare ('to move out, depart'), formed from the prefix e- ('out') plus migrare ('to move, shift'). The English noun entered usage around the early 17th century via post-classical Latin and French, alongside the verb 'emigrate' and the noun 'emigrant'. It shares its root with the wider family of migration terms, including 'immigrate', 'transmigrate', and 'migratory', all ultimately traceable to the same Latin verb migrare.
Related word forms
How emigration is actually used
Formal to neutral register; common in demographic, historical, and policy contexts. The word is defined relative to the country being left, so it contrasts with 'immigration' rather than competing with it — the same person is an emigrant to one nation and an immigrant to another.
Easily confused with emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving a country; immigration is the act of arriving and settling in a new one — the same movement viewed from opposite sides of the border.