EMIGRATION, the removal of the popula tion of a country or region for the purpose of settling elsewhere. Within the United States the movement of population from the Eastern States to the Western, or from the Northern to the Southern is properly termed emigration, but no statistics are kept as to such movements. The removals from the United States to for eign countries, however, are recorded by the Commissioner General of Immigration and embodied in his annual report to the Secretary of Labor.
In the United States two classes of emigra tion are recognized: first, the flow of aliens who came into the country as immigrants back to their native lands; second, the emigration of United States citizens to other countries.
For the fiscal year ended 30 June 1917 the departing emigrants included in the first class numbered 66,277—a figure which must be compared with those of previous years to gain a fair estimate of emigration under normal conditions. In 1915-16 the number was 129,765; in 1914-15, 204,074; in 1913-14, 303,338; in 1912-13, 308,190; in 1911-12, 333,262— the larg est record for any one year. The influence of the war is readily noticeable. Of the total alien emigration for the year 1916-17, 15,924 were women and children. The chief occupations of the 38,649 men who emigrated were as follows: laborers, 24,801; mechanics, 5,700; servants, 4,005; professional men, 1,930; miners, 1,049. The destinations of the larger groups of these departing aliens were: British North America, 18,994; Italy, 12,542; Russia, 5,947; West Indies, 5,891; England, 2,798; Spain, 2,491; France, 2,064; Greece, 2,034; China, 1,871; Norway, 1,633; Portugal, 1,353; Ireland, 1,027; South America, 993; Sweden, 969; Mexico, 812.
The number comprised in the second class cannot be determined from the United States records, but as the only considerable emigra tion of United States citizens is into Canada, the figures must be obtained from the records of the Canadian Immigration Office. From
these it appears that 61,3489 former residents of the United States entered Canada as immigrants in the fiscal year ended 30 June 1917. It is a significant fact noted by Canadian officials that this immigration from the United States con stituted 81 per cent of the total immigration for that year. In addition to this large num ber admitted, 17,988 residents of the United States who attempted to enter Canada in that year as immigrants were rejected as undesir ables. It is of interest to note in passing that the Canadian reports show that since emigra tion from the United States into Canada be gan in 1898 and 1899, the number of such immi grants totals 1,178,764 persons— out of a grand total of immigration of about 3,250,000 from all countries; and about 225,000 other residents of the United States have been refused admis sion in the same period because of their un desirable character or destitute circumstances. The earlier emigrants were chiefly former Canadians who had settled in the United-States, but returned to take advantage of improved conditions. Later there were added to this group numbers of European immigrants who did not become naturalized in the United States. The larger part of the more recent emigration from the United States into Canada has been of American-born citizens who have been at tracted by the inducements of the Canadian Provincial land offices and by the great mining opportunities in Western Canada, made avail able by the completion of the Canadian trans continental railroads. See UNITF.D STATES