IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025issue-9p175-183.html

Migration and Household Welfare: An Empirical Study of Left-Behind Families in Rural India

Author

Listed:
  • Dr Niti Arora

    (Associate Professor-Economics Mata Sundri College for Women University of Delhi)

Abstract

This research examines socio-economic and non-economic effects of migration on left-behind families in India. A research design of descriptive and analytical research method was adopted in which 400 households were sampled using structured questionnaires as method of data collection. Its results indicate a quite strong positive effect of migration on household income, improved spending on education and medical services, and leads to the overall improved economic welfare. Nevertheless, this is not without burdens and emotional demands, more responsibilities, mostly on women, and psychological pressure to children. The confirmation of the dual-prong nature of the impacts of migration is seen through statistical outcomes of paired t-tests, chi-square test and regression analysis. This study indicates that though migration is a significant livelihood strategy, specific policy interventions are required to deal with non-economic issues of families that are left behind. The study also provides beneficial information to policy formulators, social workers, and practitioners, as well as philanthropies involved in rural development who may benefit by learning how to code a comprehensive approach to migrant-sending areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Dr Niti Arora, 2025. "Migration and Household Welfare: An Empirical Study of Left-Behind Families in Rural India," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(9), pages 175-183, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-9:p:175-183
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-9/175-183.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/migration-and-household-welfare-an-empirical-study-of-left-behind-families-in-rural-india/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mathias Czaika & Marc Vothknecht, 2014. "Migration and aspirations – are migrants trapped on a hedonic treadmill?," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Francisca Antman, 2012. "Gender, educational attainment, and the impact of parental migration on children left behind," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 1187-1214, October.
    3. Adams, Richard H. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo, 2013. "The Impact of Remittances on Investment and Poverty in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 24-40.
    4. Chinmay, Tumbe, 2011. "Remittances in India: Facts and Issues," MPRA Paper 29983, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Lu, Yao, 2012. "Household migration, social support, and psychosocial health: The perspective from migrant-sending areas," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 135-142.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abbas, Faisal & Bang, James T. & Mitra, Aniruddha, 2023. "Remittances and Vaccine Hesitancy in the Punjab Province of Pakistan," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1308, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Bargain, Olivier B. & Boutin, Delphine, 2014. "Remittances and Child Labour in Africa: Evidence from Burkina Faso," IZA Discussion Papers 8007, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Démurger, Sylvie & Wang, Xiaoqian, 2016. "Remittances and expenditure patterns of the left behinds in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 177-190.
    4. Justin Sunny & Jajati K. Parida & Mohammed Azurudeen, 2020. "Remittances, Investment and New Emigration Trends in Kerala," Review of Development and Change, , vol. 25(1), pages 5-29, June.
    5. Khandker Wahedur Rahman, 2023. "International migration and the religious schooling of children in the home country: evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1963-2005, July.
    6. Agadjanian, Victor & Hayford, Sarah R. & Jansen, Natalie A., 2021. "Men's migration and women's mortality in rural Mozambique," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    7. Hajer Habib, 2023. "Remittances and Labor Supply: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1870-1899, June.
    8. Yosuke Inoue & Annie Green Howard & Bo Qin & Aki Yazawa & Andrew Stickley & Penny Gordon-Larsen, 2019. "The association between family members’ migration and cognitive function among people left behind in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-11, September.
    9. Chhavi Tiwari & Sankalpa Bhattacharjee & Pradeepta Sethi & Debkumar Chakrabarti, 2022. "Internal Migration and Rural Inequalities in India," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(4), pages 1673-1698, August.
    10. Debelo Bedada Yadeta & Fetene Bogale Hunegnaw, 2022. "Effect of International Remittance on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 383-402, June.
    11. Nikolova, Milena & Roman, Monica & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2017. "Left behind but doing good? Civic engagement in two post-socialist countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 658-684.
    12. Dominique Jolivet & Sonja Fransen & William Neil Adger & Anita Fábos & Mumuni Abu & Charlotte Allen & Emily Boyd & Edward R. Carr & Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe & Maria Franco Gavonel & François Gemenne & , 2023. "COVID-19 responses restricted abilities and aspirations for mobility and migration: insights from diverse cities in four continents," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    13. Lei, Lei & Desai, Sonalde, 2021. "Male out-migration and the health of left-behind wives in India: The roles of remittances, household responsibilities, and autonomy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    14. Nikolova, Milena & Graham, Carol, 2015. "In transit: The well-being of migrants from transition and post-transition countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 164-186.
    15. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Zhe Wang, Ben & Chen, Yuanyuan, 2021. "Childhood left-behind experience and labour market outcomes in China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 196-207.
    16. Rajarshi Majumder & Farhat Naaz, 2016. "Workers on the move: Migrated labour in India in early 21st century," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 59(3), pages 419-440, September.
    17. Fu, Yao & Jordan, Lucy P. & Zhou, Xiaochen & Chow, Cheng & Fang, Lue, 2023. "Longitudinal associations between parental migration and children's psychological well-being in Southeast Asia: The roles of caregivers' mental health and caregiving quality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    18. Isaac Dadson & Ryuta Ray Kato, 2015. "Remittances and the Brain Drain in Ghana: A Computable General Equilibrium Approach," Working Papers EMS_2015_04, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    19. Isaac Dadson & Ryuta Ray Kato, 2016. "Remittances and the Redistributive Policy in Ghana: A Computable General Equilibrium Approach," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 6, pages 28-44, May.
    20. Eva-Maria Egger & Julie Litchfield, 2019. "Correction to: Following in their footsteps: an analysis of the impact of successive migration on rural household welfare in Ghana," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-1, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-9:p:175-183. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.