Settlement patterns in South Africa reflect the historical experience of colonisation, the process of economic development during the 20th century and segregation and apartheid policies enforced by the former apartheid government. The rate of internal migration in the country has been very high though it is not accurately known. The most important underlying factors for the high rate of internal migration were the forced removals of African people from the commercial farms to the homelands from the 1960s until the early 1990s, and the continuing migrant labour system. This system has traditionally been selective of able-bodied persons, primarily males, from the economically depressed provinces and rural areas to the industrial and urban centers in search of employment and other opportunities for a better life. Less densely populated rural areas are most likely to feel the effects of the movement of people, although many of them may return to attend to their remaining interests in these areas. A high rate of change has taken place in the former homelands, which had an average annual growth rate of 5 per cent per annum compared to 2,5 per cent for the country as a whole over the period 1970-1991. Equally high growth rates were experienced in other areas as a result of urban and industrial growth and immigration.