Father’s out-migration and child health and mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh

Abdur Razzaque, ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research
Lutfun Nahar, ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research
Nizam Khan, University of Colorado at Boulder
Randall Kuhn, University of Colorado at Boulder
Shamali Shill, ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research

Recent studies have found that migrants play a crucial role in determining the welfare of those left behind in origin communities. This paper examines the effects of father’s out-migration on the health and nutrition of children in Matlab, a rural area of Bangladesh. The 1996 Matlab Health and Socioeconomic Survey provides anthropometric data (weight and height) for children under age 15 in a sample of 4,364 households. 10% of children had a father living out of the district, and 5% had a father living abroad. These data were subsequently matched to six years of mortality data from the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance System. Very preliminary results demonstrate how complicated the relationships may be: children are less likely to be malnourished if the father has out-migrated, but have increased risk of dying in the five years after survey. These relationships hold after controlling for a number of sociodemographic factors.