Migration In Vietnam Research Articles

Drivers of domestic migration in Vietnam: The characteristics of the households and their heads, environmental factors and living conditions

Drivers of domestic migration in Vietnam: The characteristics of the households and their heads, environmental factors and living conditions

‘Freedom within the framework’? The everyday politics of religion, state repression and migration in Vietnam’s borderlands and beyond

ABSTRACT How do peripheral, ‘voiceless’ people engage with politics in authoritarian contexts where formal politics is not a viable option? This article demonstrates the value of applying an everyday politics perspective to grassroots religious activity and mobilities, by providing an in-depth case study of a recently Christianised ethnic minority group based in Vietnam’s politically sensitive borderlands. In the face of religious persecution and social conflict sponsored by an overbearing state, hundreds of thousands of ordinary ethnic Hmong Protestants subtly resist, evade and/or support religious policies through mundane, everyday behaviour which have unintended geopolitical consequences, collectively undermine state legitimacy and can be credited with substantial policy changes over time. Based on rich qualitative data, I argue that a careful investigation of everyday spaces as sites of political contestation not only highlights the agency of non-elite religious actors but can also reveal insights about the nature of the ‘top-down’ forces they engage with.

The Determinants of Internal Migration in an Emerging Market: Evidence from Vietnam

Internal migration has been a challenging issue for Vietnam in the past three decades, with swift industrialization and urbanization at the two ends of the country—the capital city, Hanoi, in the north and the largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, in the south. This study identifies the determinants of internal migration with a focus on the characteristics of Vietnamese households and the household heads, together with their living conditions. A logit model is used in our analysis in three scenarios: (a) the entire sample of 8,567 households, (b) a sub-sample of households in the rural regions and (c) a sub-sample of households in the urban regions using the latest 2020 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey. Our empirical results indicate that migration decisions are strongly associated with the characteristics of the households and the household heads, including household income, size, age of the household heads and educational attainment. We also find that living conditions such as radiation and rainfall are inversely related to the decisions for internal migration in Vietnam, meaning that people living in locations with unfavourable rainfall are more likely to migrate to destinations with more favourable rainfall conditions.

Applying Some Modern Migration Theories in the World to Migrant Management in Vietnam

The study of migration in the world has only just begun in the period of capitalist development in the West with many different theories. Modern migration theories have been studied and applied in the process of developing migration management policies of many countries around the world. Like other countries, migration in Vietnam is a regular socio-economic phenomenon, a component associated with the development process. Under the impact of globalization, differences in living standards, income differences, employment opportunities, and access to social services are more clearly expressed, and become the main causes of current domestic and foreign migration flows. Migration management in Vietnam today is an important issue of concern to the Party and State in building and developing the country. The article researches and analyzes a number of typical migration theories in the world, in which focuses on clarifying two basic theories, the "Dual Sector" theory of Arthur Lewis and the "Expected Income Model" of Harris-Todaro are two migration theories that explain very specifically the causes of labor migration from rural to urban areas and from one country to another. On that basis, the article analyzes the perspectives and orientations in applying these theories to migration management in Vietnam.

Current Status, Causes and Developmental Impacts of Migration in VietNam

Current Status, Causes and Developmental Impacts of Migration in VietNam

Does domestic migration adversely affect food security? Evidence from Vietnam

With a population of more than 100 million as of December 2022, food security remains a persistent challenge in Vietnam despite achieving a miracle of economic growth and social transformation in recent decades. Vietnam has also experienced a significant migration from rural areas into urban cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau. The effects of domestic migration on food security have largely been neglected in the existing literature, particularly in Vietnam. This study investigates the impacts of domestic migration on food security using data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys. Food security is proxied by three dimensions: food expenditure, calorie consumption, and food diversity. The difference-in-difference and instrumental variable estimation techniques are used in this study to address endogeneity and selection bias. The empirical results reveal that domestic migration in Vietnam increases food expenditure and calorie consumption. We also find significant effects of wage, land and family characteristics such as education level and the number of family members on food security when different food groups are considered. Regional income, household headship and the number of children in a family mediate the relationship between domestic migration and food security in Vietnam.

Short report: mental health problems among left-behind children in Vietnam: prevalence and an examination of social support and parent-child communication as protective factors

ABSTRACT The popularity of labor migration in Vietnam leaves millions of children at home. The study aims to compare the mental health of left-behind children (LBC) and non-left-behind children (NLBC) in a Vietnamese sample and examine social factors that could influence LBC’s mental health. The study enrolled a sample of 371 LBC and 302 NLBC. Emotional Symptoms and Conduct Problems subscale of the SDQ were regarded as indicators of mental health. Results showed no differences between LBC and NLBC in terms of Emotional symptoms and Conduct problems. Notably, female LBC was more susceptible to Emotional symptoms than male LBC and female NLBC. Social support from family was negatively associated with mental health problems. No association was found between parent-child communication and mental health.

Regional informal institutions, local governance and internal migration in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Internal migration is an institutionalized process; it is affected not only by economic factors but also by institutional forces. This study thus employs institutional theory to investigate the importance of regional informal institutions and local governance quality on types of migration, as well as their impacts on migrants’ earnings. Examining a set of national internal migration data in Vietnam, we find that pure socialist regions (the north) attract in-migration for job-seeking purposes, while pre-capitalist regions (the south) attract in-migration for business opportunity-seeking purposes. More importantly, migration across regions with dissimilar informal institutions yields adverse effects on migrants’ earnings. Finally, migration from regions with a lower governance quality to regions with a higher governance quality improves migrants’ earnings.

Negotiating in Migration and Environmental change: Experiences of Khmer communities in the Mekong delta, Vietnam

This paper reviews how Khmer people in the Vietnamese Mekong delta negotiate for their sustainable livelihood in the context of environmental change and urbanization and how potentially environmental change impacts their out-migration patterns. The concept of social risks and social networks will be developed, which is defined as how local people have been vulnerable in place of origin and destination and how they respond to enhance their socio-economic resilience. Therefore, the impacts of environmental change and urbanization can also be considered the main reasons for local people's short- and long-term mobility in vulnerable regions. The starting point of this paper will overview the migration and environmental change at the global level and rural-urban migration pattern, followed by analyzing these relevant concepts to clarify the research problem. Subsequently, the overview of the fundamental knowledge of migration in Vietnam can be understood by considering their historical process as a whole. On the other hand, to understand local people's vulnerability under this circumstance, the research investigates the social risks and its consequences for locals and migrants in general, particularly for Khmer people in the Vietnamese Mekong delta, concerning their social networks and cultural value.

Educational Migration in Vietnam: Challenges and New Opportunities

Along with the general trend in the world, international migration activities of Vietnamese citizens are increasing rapidly with millions of people entering and leaving the country each year and Vietnamese living in more than 100 countries and territories around the globe. Vietnam ranks 8th among the countries with the most international students in the world. In the trend of globalization, to get closer to “world civilization,” studying abroad is the choice of many Vietnamese families. Many parents have grasped the trend of studying abroad to create conditions for their children to come close to the “paradise” education of developed countries. Studying abroad is an opportunity, it opens up a whole new horizon full of hope for changes, promising a better life in the future. The 4th industrial revolution and the strong digital transformation process create the need to fundamentally change the strategy and method of organizing science and technology training and research. Along with the process of integration and internationalization, the tendency of brain drain, especially for highly qualified young cadres, is going to be a big challenge for domestic universities. Besides, the capacity to train high-quality human resources, high-level research capacity, and innovation capacity will be a measure of the universities’ level, and at the same time, a measure of competitiveness for each country. The strongly innovative global economy is creating “brain circulation” or “brain chain” instead of “brain drain,” in which talented people return to their homeland with capital, skills, and knowledge along with many relationships with multinational enterprises as well as technology systems to contribute to the development of the country. The article presents some comments on the educational migration status of Vietnam and proposes some solutions to create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community abroad to return home and play its role in the country’s development.

Brain Drain out of the Blue: Pollution-Induced Migration in Vietnam.

Air pollution is a major problem that severely affects the health of inhabitants in developing countries’ urban areas. To deal with the problem, they may consider migration to another place as an option, which can result in the loss of skillful and talented workforces. This situation is called the brain drain phenomenon. The current study employed the Bayesian mindsponge framework (BMF) on the responses of 475 urban inhabitants in Hanoi, Vietnam—one of the most polluted capital cities in the world—to examine the risk of losing talented workforces due to air pollution. Our results show that people with higher educational levels are more likely to have intentions to migrate both domestically and internationally due to air pollution. Regarding the domestic migration intention, younger people and males have a higher probability of migrating than their counterparts. Age and gender also moderate the association between educational level and international migration intention, but their reliability needs further justification. Based on these findings, we suggest that environmental stressors caused by air pollution can influence citizen displacement intention on a large scale through the personal psychological mechanism of cost-benefit judgment. Due to the risk of air pollution on human resources, building an eco-surplus culture is crucial for enhancing environmental and socio-economic resilience.

Impact of internal remittance on households' use of bank services: evidence from Vietnam

PurposeThis study estimates impact of remittances from internal migration on households' use of bank services in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey and the two-stage least squares method (2SLS).FindingsThe results show that receiving internal remittance increases households' probability of having bank accounts and using card services. However, these impacts are different between rural and urban areas.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this study reveal the useful role of internal remittance in increasing the probability of households using bank services, thereby enhancing financial inclusion in Vietnam.Originality/valueDifferent from the previous studies, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of internal remittance on the use of bank services in Vietnam at the household level. This paper targets internal migration because it is the main type of migration in Vietnam. Besides, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first one that compares the role of internal remittance on households' use of bank services in rural and urban areas in Vietnam.

International migration - a household survival strategy in coastal communities in Ha Tinh province

Many studies have shown that the decision to migrate as a survival strategy in areas facing political conflicts, climate change, and severe scarcity of natural resources is an urgent need. In 2016, the Formosa phenomenon occurred in the communes of Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province, which caused thousands of workers to lose their jobs and have to find other livelihoods by migrating. In recent years, the cross-border labor migration in Vietnam, especially the migration of undocumented workers, is attracting researchers’ attention. This article describes the role of migration for people in the North Central Coast of Vietnam. Based on the results of the field survey through in-depth interviews in Thach Long, Thach Tri, and Thach Van communes in Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province, the author points out the push and pull factors of migration, forms of labor migration, and results of livelihood strategies of local households in the current social context. In addition to improving and changing the quality of household resources, labor migration also creates diversified and effective household livelihood restructuring. However, no strategy is considered sustainable and migrant workers are always faced with the possibility of failure and with challenges from their illegal status.

Tropical Storms and Temporary Migration in Vietnam

AbstractIn this paper, we provide the first household‐level empirical multievent study of temporary internal migration as a consequence of tropical storms. In order to do, so we combine three waves of the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey with geo‐referenced tropical cyclone data from the Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship. Based on the resulting panel dataset, we study temporary emigration patterns evolving in the aftermath of occurring storms in the sample communes. We find robust empirical evidence in favor of a significant push effect on temporary migration. Occurring storms increase the likelihood that a household sends members to other regions in Vietnam. Storms also tend to increase the number of absent household members and absence time. Moreover, we show that occurring storms increase both seasonal and long‐term absences.

Care Needs and Migration: Household Determinants of Internal Labour Migration in Vietnam

Migration stands as a livelihood strategy for households in Southeast Asia. Recent literature calls for the study of migration at the household level and for the consideration of care needs among the determinants of migration. Based on the case of Vietnam, this article contributes to past research by providing a longitudinal analysis of how household care needs may influence the use of internal migration as a livelihood strategy. Using a household life-course perspective that recognizes how family care needs evolve over time, this article tests if care needs influence the propensity for a household to have one or more new member-out-migrants over time. We operationalize care needs through the household dependency ratio, health care and education expenditures. Multivariate analyses are based on longitudinal data from three passages of the Vietnam Living Standards Survey of 2010, 2012, and 2014. Results indicate that households needing to cover costs of children’s education are more likely to engage in migration than those with health care needs. These results reinforce the idea that migration requires certain conditions to occur and that the immediate care needs that require co-presence tend to prevent, rather than incite, migration at the household level. Overall, the analysis indicates that evolving care needs and household members’ capacities to provide for modify the way households organize and deploy their workforce over space and time.

The Impacts of Rainfall Shocks on Migration in Vietnam

This paper investigates the extent to which exposure to climate volatility can influence individual migration decisions in Vietnam. Utilizing the exogenous variation in the rainfall deviation from the local norms within an individual fixed-effects framework, we uncover the negative association between rainfall and the probability of individual migration. Doubling the amount of rainfall relative to the long-run local average reduces individual migration probability by 7.5 percentage points. This relationship could potentially be driven by individuals working in agriculture who are less likely to move due to higher agricultural income from more rainfall. Furthermore, our heterogeneity analyses suggest that rainfall shocks could perpetuate the gender inequality in Vietnam since women lack the ability to cope with climatic shocks through migration.

Do weather extremes induce people to move? Evidence from Vietnam

This study examines the effect of extreme weather events on inter-province migration in Vietnam using a migration gravity model. It finds that high rainfall extremes encourage the out-migration of highly educated people but attracts the in-migration of the poorly educated. A possible reason is that high rainfall increases household income from agricultural production but reduces wage income. Thus, high rainfall extremes increase the migration of the highly educated, who mainly have salaried jobs, while attracting the poorly educated, who are mainly self-employed in agricultural work. Low temperature extremes in source provinces reduce out-migration, while low temperature extremes in destination provinces increase in-migration, possibly because very hot weather reduces wages and affect people’s health, and as a result influences migration.

Estimation of Factors Affecting Job Migration in Vietnam

This study utilized the logit regression model with data from the Vietnamese Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) in 2016 to discover key factors that determined the probability of job migration in Vietnam. The estimated results of the model indicated that there were seven factors affecting job migration of households including the proportion of people with high school or higher qualification, the proportion of dependents, the number of males, the rate of income from non-agricultural fields, ethnics, areas and households’ living standards compared to the previous five years. In particular, the rate of non-agricultural income had a positive impact on households’ job migration, while other factors had negative effects on households’ job migration. Households’ accommodations and living standards had made great impacts on households whose family members working far away from home and even being helpers.

The Impacts of Economic Growth and Governance on Migration: Evidence from Vietnam

We examine the effect of income level and governance quality on inter-province migration in Vietnam using a gravity model. Consistent with previous studies on migration, we find that people tend to move from low-income provinces to high-income ones. Among the income components, wage income is the most important in pushing and pulling migrants. Higher non-farm income also attracts more immigrants. The migration flow is also associated with the quality of governance and public administration. Low public services and administrative procedures tend to push people to emigrate, while better control of corruption and more transparency and accountability tend to pull immigrants.

Shocks, Development Policies, and Rural-Urban Migration in Vietnam

Behaviors of migrants towards shocks are worthy to study to understand their reflection on external unexpected events to narrow the gap in the literature of migrations. Besides, rural development policies are believed to help reverse the rural-urban migration. This research paper was aimed at taking these critical points from literature into examination for justifications such as impacts of shocks, rural development interventions, and other determinants on migrants’ decision to return and staying duration in the cities with an empirical analysis from the unique Thailand – Vietnam Socio-Economic Panel (TVSEP) data. The estimation results from the two-step Heckman model show that demographic shocks positively affect migrants’ decision to return, while social shocks affecting the migrants during the time in the cities are negatively impact their decision to return. In the outcome stage of migration period, the result signifies that economic shocks positively influence migrants’ staying period in the cities. Besides, migrants from poor communes with poverty reduction projects are more unlikely to return. This implies that current rural development policies in Vietnam with a goal of poverty reduction might not be attractive or efficient enough to fill the gap between the rural and urban regions.