Migrant Households Research Articles

Rural Migrants and Settlement Rights in Early Twentieth-Century Shanxi: A Study of “Class Background Registers”

Shanxi experienced a severe population shortage after the late Qing Dingwu famine. The frequent disasters and warfare of the Republican era further increased population movements in north China, and in addition to northeast China, Shanxi became a major destination for migrants. In this period over two million migrants settled in Shanxi. Those that settled in the countryside formed a unique social group of immigrant households. The kinship and territorial bonds of north Chinese villages are well known, and such villages are often considered to have been very insular and xenophobic communities. Migrant households found it difficult to join the village community, and often had no choice but to live precarious lives on the outskirts of villages. Migrant households had to acquire “settlement rights” in the village in order to have any chance of survival and development. But settlement rights could not be achieved overnight; they were not only a matter of time, but also involved certain requirements and favorable circumstances. Through a close examination of “class background registers” compiled during the Four Cleanups movement (1963–1966), this article shows how migrant households in late Qing and Republican China used famine as an opportunity to gradually acquire settlement rights. On the one hand, migrants used wage labor, tenancy, and credit to form dependent relations through land with resident households. On the other hand, they used social relations, adoption, and uxorilocal marriage to form kinship relations with resident households. Compared to south China, where village settlement rights emphasized recognition of common ancestry, settlement rights in north China villages emphasized common lived experience. This difference is an important factor in explaining rural social formation and development in north China.

Factors affecting extent of rural livelihood diversification in selected areas of Bangladesh

The study was carried out to investigate the patterns and extent of livelihood diversification in rural Bangladesh. It also identified the major factors affecting extent of livelihood diversification. The study drew a random sample of 500 rural farm households in Bangladesh through a multi-stage sampling technique. The primary data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and statistical techniques. The results showed that remittance contributed the highest to the household income followed by petty business and rice farming. The estimated values of Simpson Index of Diversification (SID) showed that majority of the rural households had “medium” and “high” level diversified livelihood activities. Tobit regression analysis found that gender of the household head, household size and amount of credit had positive and significant effects; and number of migrant household member, dependency ratio, household assets, education of the household head and amount of savings had negative but significant effects on the extent of livelihood diversification. The small and medium landholding households were more likely to diversify their livelihoods compared to the functionally landless and large landholding households. The study recommended that non-farm employment opportunities should be expanded to combat poor households' vulnerability to shocks and income fluctuations. Functionally landless households should be given more attention to increase and diversify their incomes.SAARC J. Agri., 16(1): 7-21 (2018)

Precarious Debt: Microfinance Subjects and Intergenerational Dependency in Cambodia

AbstractThis paper tells a story of debt within a rural Cambodian family in order to understand how microfinance produces more‐than‐individual financial subjects that are entangled in changing social relations of dependency. We draw upon 20 months of joint ethnographic research in Cambodia, where the microfinance industry is one of the largest per capita in the world. Informed by Judith Butler's notions of precariousness and precarity, we argue that even in the context of deepening financialisation, people's lives remain dependent upon others, especially within families. We analyse how these family relations of dependency are reworked along generational lines and spatially stretched due to precarious economic conditions of indebtedness, household migration, and distant labour markets. We conclude that reframing financial subjectivity in terms of precariousness helps us to analyse the relationship between households and financial markets, as well as inform a critical politics of finance.

They earn and send; we spend: consumption patterns of Pakistani migrant households

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze differential consumption patterns of Pakistani migrant households resulting from foreign and domestic remittances.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Working-Leser model and a number of matching techniques, the authors analyze a representative household survey carried out in 2010–2011 to compare various expenditure categories of recipient and non-recipient households across different income brackets.FindingsResults show that foreign remittances lead to significant consumption changes. Contrary to the widely held view, remittances do not raise the budget share on consumer goods and recreation, while allocation on education increases substantially. Households receiving domestic remittances also reflect strong focus on human capital with significantly higher shares of health and education. Recipients of international transfers living below one dollar a day spend proportionally more on food compared with their non-recipient counterparts whereas their education and health budget shares are not dissimilar.Practical implicationsThe positive effect of remittances on expenditures on human capital coupled with a lack of evidence suggesting an increase in the share of conspicuous spending resulting from remittances highlights the beneficial role that remittances play in a developing country.Originality/valueExtant literature lacks consensus on whether migrant remittances should be treated as a temporary or permanent source of household income. In this study, the authors argue and empirically show that the two need not be mutually exclusive, and may co-exist depending on the nature of remittances and household characteristics.

Maintaining one language while learning another: Moroccan children in Belgium

ABSTRACTWhether children in migrant households maintain proficiency in their heritage language (HL) may affect their attachment to their cultural heritage, while the extent to which they acquire proficiency in the new language of their destination strongly conditions their success in the country’s educational and occupational institutions. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which children of Moroccan heritage living in Antwerp, Belgium maintain their proficiency in their parents’ HL and the extent to which they learn and speak Dutch. Our research design draws from family language policy to consider how elements of the children’s family background, language practices by the parents and siblings, attitudes towards the HL and Dutch, and language management, affect the children’s levels of proficiency in each language. Based on data for over 300 children, the results show that the children’s proficiency in their HL is strongly affected by whether the parents use and value the HL, the mother is proficient in the HL, and by opportunities to use the HL outside of the household. In contrast, the children’s proficiency in Dutch is affected by the mother’s proficiency in Dutch and by the languages used by the other children in the household.

Does Migrant Status and Household Registration Matter? Examining the Effects of City Size on Self-Rated Health

Rapid urban population growth, especially in the last three decades, has begun to present a serious threat to living conditions, and posing increased risks to human health. Investigating the relationship between population size of city areas and self-rated health (SRH) can, we argue, provide insights for the management of population growth and improving SRH. This study employed a multilevel analysis to reveal the effects of city size on SRH both from migrant status and household registration perspectives, using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) for 2013. The results indicate that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between city size and SRH. Income and population density were shown to constitute significant positive impact drivers in relation to SRH. In contrast, migrant status and household registration exerted a significant negative effect on SRH. While the SRH status of migrants was not influenced by city size, city size was found to influence the SRH of individuals differently in different regions (i.e., eastern, central, and western parts of China). The results will be helpful in understanding the effect of the dynamics of city size on SRH in China, and will assist the Chinese government in employing effective strategies to improve SRH status.

The impacts of migration on maternal and child health services utilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Togo.

Togo is experiencing a growing phenomenon of migration and consequently receives remittances from international migrants back to their relatives. Remittances represent about 9.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP), placing Togo in the top 10 recipients of remittances in the world in 2014. Despite the importance of remittances, information on their health outcomes is inadequate, particularly if remittances have a positive impact on the utilisation of maternal and child health services. The aim of this article is to evaluate the impacts of migration on maternal and child health services utilisation. Cross-sectional data analysis of mothers aged 15-49 years who have recently given birth. We used propensity score matching to compare the utilisation of health services by mothers and children from households with migrants to those without migrants. We simulated a potential confounder to assess the robustness of the effects of the estimated treatment (i.e. migration). We also addressed the problem of hidden biases with the bounding approach. Deliveries attended by skilled health personnel were found to be 10.3% higher in migrant households than in households without migrants. The antenatal visits of mothers in migrant households were 3.5%-9.5% higher than those of matched control groups. Compared to the non-migrant households, the migrant households had a positive welfare (postnatal checks at the hospital) impact of 11.9%-12.5% percentage points. Furthermore, through access to health insurance, mothers in migrant families enjoy more financial protection with regard to delivery, prenatal and postnatal care. We also found that children in migrant households benefit from more preventive health inputs such as postnatal checks and vaccinations. Our results suggest that migration contributes greatly to improving births at hospitals, skilled birth assistance, and utilisation of antenatal and postnatal care through the return flow of financial resources. Efforts in health care reforms in Togo should take into account the scope of the positive impacts of migration on the utilisation of maternal and child health services.

Invisible Development? Remittances for Housing and Transnational Reproduction Strategies among Migrant Households in Colombia

AbstractIn recent years, the Colombian government has embraced the migration‐development agenda by designing programmes to channel remittances to key sectors such as housing and finance,in an attempt to institutionalise migrant households’ transnational economic practices. However, little is known about migrant households’ multifaceted transnational practices, their broader impact on households’ and localities’ socioeconomic development and migrants’ engagement with these migration‐for‐development programmes. Drawing on qualitative data collected along the Colombia‐UK migration network, this paper contrasts the narrow interpretation of development that underpins the migration‐development agenda, as exemplified by the remittances‐for‐housing programmes implemented in Colombia, with the more nuanced social and economic contributions that remittance‐financed housing investments have for migrant households’ and communities’ socioeconomic development. Thus, it provides a more nuanced interpretation of development to account for the often invisible, socioeconomic spinoffs that occur in the process of migrant households’ attempts to produce and reproduce their livelihoods transnationally.

Mass Migration from Rural India: A Restudy of Kunkeri Village in Konkan, Maharashtra, 1961–1987–2017

This article examines a particular village—Kunkeri—in Konkan, Maharashtra, characterized by persistent mass outmigration for over five decades, by combining a field study in 2017 with detailed ethnographic and statistical baseline data collected by the Census of India in 1961 and 1987. It documents the increase in outmigration rates, catch-up in outmigration intensities by the lowest castes to those of the upper castes, diversification of household migration strategies and outmigrants’ occupations, the lessening of single-male migration strategies, the presence of a diasporic association and the growing significance of commuting and migration for education. Yet, despite mass outmigration and a general rise in the standard of living across castes, we observe strong continuity in the distribution of castes and land ownership structures within Kunkeri. These findings point to both the transformative and status-quo preserving features of persistent mass migration from rural India. JEL: O15, J61, N35

Consumption behavior of migrant households in Vietnam: Remittances, duration of stay, and the household registration system

This paper examines the determinants of the consumption gap between migrant and urban households in Vietnam, paying particular attention to the role of the household registration (ho khau) system in shaping consumption of migrant households. Our findings indicate that migrant households exhibit significantly lower consumption levels than comparable urban households. The observed gap is mainly driven by differences in non-food consumption. We also find that the restrictions imposed by the ho khau system contribute significantly to the gap. Moreover, remittances of migrant households to family members in rural regions are responsible for a considerable part of the gap. Finally, we observe that the consumption gap declines with the duration of residence of migrant households in their destination cities.

Opportunity recognition among migrant entrepreneurs

This article examines the decision-making process of Polish migrant entrepreneurs (MEs) using the theoretical lens of opportunity recognition, which has not yet been applied to MEs. First, the article provides empirical evidence on Polish MEs in Glasgow on the incremental nature of their entrepreneurial decisions, their ability to perceive opportunities in the community niche market located in the local opportunity structure and the role played by the household context, highlighting that starting-up is a household and not an individual decision. Second, building on the opportunity recognition literature, the article proposes the concept of haphazard entrepreneurship in the case of MEs. The concept encompasses notions of serendipity and mixed embeddedness and recognizes the importance of household migration and settlement strategies in entrepreneurial decision-making.

Living together with children and elderly: the impact of family structure on the consumption of migrants and residents in urban China

Using data from the first wave of the “China Family Dynamic Survey” conducted in 2014, this study compares the impact on consumption of the presence of children or elderly people in migrant households and to that in urban resident households, and then examines the extent to which lack of access to public services might explain the differences in consumption patterns that do exist. The results indicate that migrant households with infants and toddlers increase their consumption of healthcare services, while those with preschool children increase their consumption of educational services. Migrant households with elderly members significantly increase their consumption of healthcare services. The comparison of migrant households with urban resident households shows that there are considerable differences between migrant households and urban resident households in terms of how educational and healthcare expenditures are affected by the presence of children and elderly. The differences grow out of a huge gap in the accessibility of low-cost, subsidized public preschool education and government-funded health insurance programs.

Impact of Male Out-Migration on Women Left Behind: A Study of Two Villages in Uttar Pradesh

Male out-migration is the most often adopted strategy in rural areas to surmount risks associated with agriculture and to diversify income. There are various reasons for the increased exodus of labor from rural areas, such as underdevelopment, unemployment, less availability of non-farm jobs and population pressure. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of male out-migrants. Male persistent absence has many repercussions on women left behind. Despite this, there is a dearth of literature on the impact of migration on women left behind. The current study tries to fill this void. The objective of the study is to look into various socioeconomic, psychological and political impacts of male out-migration on women left behind. To meet the objective, 100 women from migrant households were surveyed in two randomly selected villages of Uttar Pradesh using snowball methodology. The study found that the impact of male out-migration on women has both positive and negative facets. Migration has increased their household income, thereby increasing their social status in village. But economic gains are often offset by increased workload of women in household and agriculture. Although decision-making has empowered women, at the same time a lack of financial autonomy and an inability to take decisions on important matters impedes their empowerment. Insecurity and loneliness are other major issues, followed by a hindrance in access to entitlements. Women are more prone to physical, social and verbal abuse in the absence of men. Thus in order to reap positive benefits of out-migration, the government should empower women by providing them agriculture-related technical knowledge and should encourage a change in the mindset of communities.

Utilization of International Remittances in Bangladesh

The study explores the significant factors and utilization of international remittance in Bangladesh by using primary data from 84 migrant households. The study applies multiple linear regression model estimated by OLS method. The estimated results find that household size, training, skill, years at abroad and earnings significantly affect international remittance in Bangladesh. This indicates migrants remit home motivated by mixed views like, altruistic, loan repayment and exchange view. The study also finds 50.01 percent of remittance is utilized only in consumption of food purpose. The study suggests arranging training and skill enhancing programs to migrants and creating investment opportunities.

Do Migrant Remittances Reduce Poverty? Micro-Level Evidence from Punjab, Pakistan

This paper provides a poverty profile of households and then investigates the effects of international remittances on poverty incidence and severity in Punjab, Pakistan. Using cross-section data from the latest Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey for Punjab, the disaggregated analysis on the remittance-poverty nexus is examined by districts and urban-rural locales. From the poverty profile for migrant households with remittances and the counterfactual scenario of no remittances, the differences in the poverty reduction effect seem larger for poverty headcount than on the depth of poverty. The same trend holds for the urban-rural locales. This implies that remittances inflow were not really helpful for the poorest of the poor. The regression analysis further reveals that migrant remittances have significantly reduced the level and depth of poverty for households in all districts of Punjab, with the highest probability of being non-poor for rural households in the districts of South Punjab.

Food remittances and food security: a review

The global attention paid to cash remittances over the past decade has resulted in an extremely solid evidence base on international, regional and national level remitting behaviour and impacts. Little attention, however, has been paid to food remitting and its development contribution, including to the welfare and food security of sending and receiving migrant households. A review of the current state of knowledge about food remitting found considerable knowledge gaps in our understanding of the volume, driver and impacts of this phenomenon. In this paper, food remittance data from five multi-country household surveys and case study evidence are marshalled in order to demonstrate that food remitting is an important accompaniment to migration which demands much greater research attention. The paper uses the existing data to show that there is considerable spatial variability in the amounts, frequency and types of foodstuffs that flow to and from migrant origin and destination areas within countries and across borders. Both poor and better-off households in many rural areas remit food, a practice that enhances urban food security. Rural–rural, urban–urban and urban–rural food remitting are also growing in significance. Research on the relationship between remittances and development can no longer afford to ignore this neglected but extremely important form of remitting.

Drivers of rural-urban migration and impact on food security in rural Tanzania

This paper contributes to (1) the Valletta action plan by identifying root causes of migration in Africa, and (2) the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda reflecting the close links between migration and development. Our objectives are to identify drivers of rural-urban migration in Tanzania and to examine its impact on food security. The analyses are based on survey data of 900 rural households in the Dodoma and Morogoro districts of Tanzania from 2013. The logistic regression revealed that several household characteristics such as age of the household head, household size, and dependency ratio, but also employment and welfare status determine whether any household member migrates from the rural area to an urban area. Households from the more remote and food insecure Dodoma district were more likely to have migrants looking for jobs than households from Morogoro district. The Propensity Score Matching approach revealed that migration significantly worsens the food security status of rural migrant households in terms of access, availability and stability. This outcome is explained by the loss in labor input, leading to lower agricultural productivity of rural households, which cannot be compensated by the transfer of remittances from their respective migrants. Thus, migration does not always function as a pathway out of food insecurity in developing countries.

Prevalence and determinants of food insecurity in migrant Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean households in Ottawa, Canada

PurposeFood insecurity (FI) is an important social determinant of health and is linked with higher health care costs. There is a high prevalence of FI among recent migrant households in Canada. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence of FI in Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean migrants in Ottawa, and to explore determinants of FI in that population.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was conducted among 190 mothers born in Sub-Saharan Africa or the Caribbean living in Ottawa and having a child between 6 and 12 years old. Health Canada’s Household Food Security Survey Module was used to evaluate participants’ food security in the past 12 months. χ2 tests and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to measure determinants of FI (n=182).FindingsA very high rate of FI (45.1 percent) was found among participants. When numerous determinants of FI were included in a multivariate model, household FI was associated with Caribbean origin, low education attainment, lone motherhood, living in Canada for five years or less and reliance on social assistance.Originality/valueThese findings highlight the need for FI to be explicitly addressed in migrant integration strategies in order to improve their financial power to purchase sufficient, nutritious and culturally acceptable foods. Enhancing migrants’ access to affordable child care and well-paid jobs, improving social assistance programs and providing more affordable subsidized housing programs could be beneficial.

Migration and its influence on the knowledge and usage of birth control methods among Afghan women who stay behind

ObjectiveThe objective of this article is to investigate the link between migration and knowledge and use of birth control methods among female household members (of migrants) who stay behind in Afghanistan. Migrants can remit birth control information received in the destination country to non-migrants staying in the origin country, who may as a consequence adjust their health behaviour accordingly. The consequences of this interaction for knowledge and use are what we aim to test. Study designPopulation-based secondary analysis of cross-sectional data. MethodsThis study used cross-sectional data from the Afghan Mortality Survey (2010). Using ordinary least squares regression and propensity score matching, this research studies to what extent having a migrant in the household influences the knowledge and use of birth control among non-migrant Afghan women. Women who stay behind are defined in this research as those with a migrant household member who moved between 2005 and 2010. ResultsResults indicated that non-Pashtun women with a migrant household member showed greater knowledge of contraceptive methods using injectables, birth control pill and lactational amenorrhea method compared to those women without a migrant household member. Less knowledge of male sterilisation and emergency contraception is observed for all women (both Pashtun and non-Pashtun) with a migrant in their household on male sterilisation and emergency contraception compared to the women without a migrant in the household. In addition, we show that Pashtun women with a migrant in the household had lower levels of overall knowledge and were less likely to use birth control methods than women without a migrant household member. ConclusionIn Afghanistan, given the proximity, religious similarity and sociocultural customs mainly men migrate either to Pakistan or Iran. The findings suggest that migrants in different destination countries transfer different information (or fail to successfully transfer information) about birth control methods to members of their transnational networks, compounding disparities in knowledge and use of birth control methods among women staying in the origin country. Migrants have the potential to be health-related development agents, but the health information migrants receive while abroad and remit back to their home countries varies by destination country context.

Birth preparedness and determinants of birth place among migrants living in slums and slum-like pockets in Delhi, India

ObjectiveThe objective of this paper is to report birth preparedness and place of birth and its determinants among recent- and settled- migrant households living in slums of Delhi. MethodsIn a cross-sectional survey, 458 migrant mothers with a child aged below one year of age were identified. Socio-demographic details, data on the place of childbirth, antenatal care (ANC) and birth preparedness in terms of planning for home birth or hospital birth, transport, saving money, knowledge of danger signs were collected through interviewer-administered pretested questionnaire. Logistic regression was carried out for the determinants of hospital birth. ResultsThe present study migrants are characterised by younger ages, low educational attainment, low incomes and represented by socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. They mainly relied on government healthcare services for maternal care. ANC seeking was not satisfactory with 16% of women with no ANC; 46% receiving 1–3 visits; and only 23% of women reported health worker visited them at home. 59% of the births took place at hospitals. Having ANC visits (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) for having 4 or more ANC visits = 5.252), planning for hospital birth (AOR = 6.114), plan for transport (AOR = 1.989), mass media exposure (listening to radio; AOR = 2.871) and knowledge of danger signs (AOR = 3.872) resulted in significant chances of hospital birth. ConclusionMigrant women are at the risk of utilizing the services to a less extent. The health systems need to take measures to mitigate the disadvantage due to migration through specific strategies to make them inclusive and outreach to the poor migrants.