Left-behind experience and children’s multidimensional poverty: Evidence from rural China

Caring for left-behind children (LBC) in rural areas can provide reserve force for the construction of new countryside and help realize rural revitalization. Based on a sample from China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), this study captured rural children’s poverty by building a multidimensional poverty index system of five dimensions (right to subsistence, health, protection, development, and participation). Then explore the relationship between the left-behind experience (LBE) and multidimensional poverty of rural children. The finding revealed that LBE significantly increases the probability of children falling into multidimensional poverty. Specifically, compared to LBE with accompanying by a single parent and LBE during school, the negative impacts of LBE without accompanying by parents and LBE during pre-school are greater, respectively. Moreover, girls and the only-child with LBE are more likely to fall into multidimensional poverty. The study also found that, overall, the poverty incidence of rural children’s right to development is the highest among the five dimensions, as well as the multidimensional poverty contribution rate of the right to participation. The multidimensional poverty index ( $$MPI$$ ), the multidimensional poverty incidence ( $$H$$ ), the multidimensional poverty intensity ( $$A$$ ), the contribution rates of the right to subsistence, protection, and participation of children with LBE in rural areas are higher than those of children without LBE respectively. This study contributes to a better understanding of the multidimensional poverty of rural children in China and provides a valuable direction for alleviating multidimensional poverty from the perspective of LBE. Meanwhile, these findings are conducive to raising the attention of families and governments to LBC in rural areas and ensuring the welfare of rural children.