Migration and children's welfare in China:the schooling and health of children left behind

Although the effect of the migration process on the family has been extensively studied, much less attention has been given to the impact of migration on children, especially those children who are left behind. Children whose parents have migrated are usually looked after by members of their extended family. In this paper, we compare the well-being of children who live in rural Chinese households in which the parents either have or have not migrated, and we then examine the extent to which parental migration affects children's welfare (i.e., schooling and health conditions). Our findings show that, compared to children whose parents have migrated, children whose parents have not migrated were better off in terms of school enrollment and years of schooling. Meanwhile, children of migrant parents generally demanded more recognition from parents and peers and were more likely to develop a smoking habit. Regarding children's health, this paper also identifies some negative impacts of parental migration on children's receiving of health care and on the general quality of their health; however, the extent was not as substantial as in the case of schooling. Overall, our findings suggest that parental absence due to labor migration affected children's mental and, to a lesser extent, physical well-being. The results also confirm the common observation that the care provided by the extended family is often limited to tangible help and rarely involves spiritual inspiration.