Transformation of international migrants in head wind: Evidence from Tajikistan in the 2010s

Abstract

AbstractTajikistan has relied on remittances by international migrants that have exceeded a quarter of annual GDP to date, despite a series of exogenous adverse events in the mid‐2010s. We use a nationally representative panel dataset collected in 2013 and 2018 to explore the socio‐economic characteristics of households with international migrants and migrants themselves. We provide several new findings. First, the prevalence of households with international migrants is 40%, with a substantial transition in migrant status during the research period. Second, households with international migrants are not poor, have Russian‐speaking members, and are supported by an intense migration network. Third, younger, single, and more educated males comprise most of Tajikistan's international migrants. Fourth, households without Russian‐speaking members or migration networks in 2013 had begun to send international migrants by 2018, while households in the richest group had exited from migration, suggesting s transition of the socio‐economic composition of migrant‐sending households during the mid‐2010s.