OJAS Home

2021 - Volume 5 - Number 2

The Effect of Migration on Family in Nepal: A Review on the Family Structure, Livelihood, Education, Aging Parents, Reproductive Health and Marital Relationship

Dipak Raj Rai *  raidipakraj@gmail.com * ORCID: 0000-0002-1681-1524 * ResearcherID: AAU-4472-2021
Singhania University, School of Applied and Social Science, Rajasthan, INDIA

Megh Raj Dangal *  megh@ku.edu.np * ORCID: 0000-0002-3067-7405
Kathmandu University, School of Arts, Kathmandu, NEPAL

Open Journal for Anthropological Studies, 2021, 5(2), 49-60 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojas.0502.02049r
Received: 28 April 2021 ▪ Accepted: 18 July 2021 ▪ Published Online: 1 October 2021

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
This study analyzes the effect of migration on the left-behind family members in Nepal especially focusing on the family structure, livelihood, education, aging parents, reproductive health, and marital relationship. The review was done based on the published journal articles, dissertations, and organizational reports from 2015-2020 to explore the areas impacted by the migration. Seven thematic areas emerged and found both positive and adverse effects and association of migration on left behind family members of the migrants. The review also found the need for further research on the ways of communicating and supporting between migrants and left behind family members to reduce the adverse effect of the migration on the left behind members of the family. Furthermore, field studies can concentrate on ways to enable women to learn skills, techniques and technology to increase production and diversify livelihoods.

KEY WORDS: migration, remittance, left-behind family, livelihood, family structure, education, aging parents.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Dr. Megh Raj Dangal, Associate Professor, Kathmandu University, School of Arts, Kathmandu, NEPAL. E-mail: megh@ku.edu.np

REFERENCES:

Acharya, C. P., & Leon-Gonzalez, R. (2019). The quest for quality education: international remittances and rural–urban migration in Nepal. Migration and Development, 8(2), 119-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/21632324.2018.1429834

Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., Black, R., Dercon, S., Geddes, A., & Thomas, D. S. G. (2015). Focus on environmental risks and migration: Causes and consequences. Environmental Research Letters, 10/6. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/060201

Adhikari, B. (2018). The consequences of mother international migration to the left behind girls at Chitwan District Nepal. November, 1-14. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329265436.

Adhikari, J., & Deshingkar, P. (2015). How migration into urban construction work impacts on rural households in Nepal. Migrating out of Poverty, 49.

Antia, K., Boucsein, J., Deckert, A., Dambach, P., Račaitė, J., Šurkienė, G., Jaenisch, T., Horstick, O., & Winkler, V. (2020). Effects of international labour migration on the mental health and well-being of left-behind children: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(12), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124335

Asis, M. M. B., & Feranil, A. (2020). Not for adults only: Toward a child lens in migration policies in Asia. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 8(1), 68-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/2331502420907375

Bhattarai, N., Manandhar, N., & Joshi, S. K. (2020). Status of migration and its perceived effects in Khopasi, Kavrepalanchowk District: A descriptive cross-sectional study. December. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijosh.v10i2.33362

Bhawana, K. C., Wang, T., & Gentle, P. (2017). Internal migration and land use and land cover changes in the middle mountains of Nepal. Mountain Research and Development, 37(4), 446-455. https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00027.1

Chapagain, B. K. (2015). Men’ s overseas migration and women’s mobility and decision-making in rural Nepalese families. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Australian National University.

Compernolle, E. L. (2017). Spouse crossing borders: Husband’s international migration and the marital relationship. PhD Thesis, University of Michigan.

Daly, A., Hillis, A., Shrestha, S. M., & Shrestha, B. K. (2020). Bricks in the wall: A review of the issues that affect children of in-country seasonal migrant workers in the brick kilns of Nepal. Geography Compass, August, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12547

Démurger, S. (2015). Migration and families left behind. IZA World of Labor, April, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.144

Dhital, S., Chalise, H. N., & Rupakheti, D. (2015). Migration, ageing and spousal separation: A review of current population trend in Nepal. Jacobs Journal of Gerontology, 1(1), 1-7.

Fellmeth, G., Rose-Clarke, K., Zhao, C., Busert, L. K., Zheng, Y., Massazza, A., Sonmez, H., Eder, B., Blewitt, A., Lertgrai, W., Orcutt, M., Ricci, K., Mohamed-Ahmed, O., Burns, R., Knipe, D., Hargreaves, S., Hesketh, T., Opondo, C., & Devakumar, D. (2018). Health impacts of parental migration on left-behind children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet, 392(10164), 2567-2582. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32558-3

Fernández-Sánchez, H., Salma, J., Márquez-Vargas, P. M., & Salami, B. (2020). Left-behind women in the context of international migration: A scoping review. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 31(6), 606-616. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659620935962

Gautam, T. R. (2008). Migration and the problem of old age people in Nepal. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 2, 145-160. https://doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v2i0.1361

Ghimire, D., Zhang, Y., & Williams, N. (2019). Husbands’ migration: increased burden on or more autonomy for wives left behind? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1675502

Ghimire, S., Singh, D. R., Nath, D., Jeffers, E. M., & Kaphle, M. (2018). Adult children’s migration and well-being of left behind Nepalese elderly parents. Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health, 8(3-4), 154-161. https://doi.org/10.2991/j.jegh.2018.07.004

Graham, E., Jordan, L. P., & Yeoh, B. S. A. (2015). Parental migration and the mental health of those who stay behind to care for children in South-East Asia. Social Science and Medicine, 132, 225-235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.10.060

Hendrickson, Z. M. (2017). Lives across borders: An exploration of women’s reproductive lives, intimate relationships, and spousal labor migration in Nepal. PhD Thesis, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA.

International Organization for Migration. (2019). Migration in Nepal: A Country Profile 2019. 155. https://nepal.iom.int/sites/default/files/publication/.

IOM & Save the Children. (2017). Social cost of migration on children left behind due to labor migration. In Social cost of migration on children left behind. http://library1.nida.ac.th/termpaper6/sd/2554/19755.pdf.

Islam, M. M., Khan, M. N., & Mondal, M. N. I. (2019). Does parental migration have any impact on nutritional disorders among left-behind children in Bangladesh? Public Health Nutrition, 22(1), 95-103. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018002963

Jaquet, S., Shrestha, G., Kohler, T., & Schwilch, G. (2016). The effects of migration on livelihoods, land management, and vulnerability to natural disasters in the Harpan watershed in western Nepal. Mountain Research and Development, 36(4), 494-505. https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-16-00034.1

Kaimal, L. S., & Paul, A. M. (2021). A sociological preview on the effects of migration on families left behind in homeland. November 2020.

Karki Nepal, A. (2016). The impact of international remittances on child outcomes and household expenditures in Nepal. Journal of Development Studies, 52(6), 838-853. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2015.1107045

Katuwal Chhetri, R., KC, P., & Chandra Dhakal, S. (2020). Remittance and its impact on Nepalese economy. Acta Scientific Agriculture, 4(3), 01-05. https://doi.org/10.31080/asag.2020.04.0818

Khan, S. U., & Jehangir Khan, M. (2016). The impact of remittances on child education in Pakistan. The Lahore Journal of Economics, 21(1), 69-98. https://doi.org/10.35536/lje.2016.v21.i1.a3

Khanal, P., Rai, S., & Chalise, H. N. (2018). Children’s migration and its effect on elderly people: A study at old age homes in Kathmandu. American Journal of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 1(June 2019), 1-6. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323827072.

Kunwar, R., Vajdic, C. M., & Muscatello, D. J. (2020). Parental international migration is not associated with improved health care seeking for common childhood illnesses and nutritional status of young children left-behind in Nepal. Public Health, 186, 137-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.06.049

Li, Q., Zhou, X., Ma, S., Jiang, M., & Li, L. (2017). The effect of migration on social capital and depression among older adults in China. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(12), 1513-1522. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1439-0

Limbu, A. (2016). Women and migration in Nepal: A juncture of change. Understanding Nepal in Contemporary Times.

Mehata, S., Paudel, Y. R., Dhungel, A., Paudel, M., Thapa, J., & Karki, D. K. (2020). Spousal separation and use of and unmet need for contraception in Nepal: Results based on a 2016 survey. Scientific World Journal, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8978041

Nepal Rastra Bank. (2019). Annual Report (Issue November). https://www.bradford-vt.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Bradford-VT-Town-Report-1-30-19.pdf.

Ojha, H. R., Shrestha, K. K., Subedi, Y. R., Shah, R., Nuberg, I., Heyojoo, B., Cedamon, E., Rigg, J., Tamang, S., Paudel, K. P., Malla, Y., & McManus, P. (2017). Agricultural land underutilisation in the hills of Nepal: Investigating socio-environmental pathways of change. Journal of Rural Studies, 53, 156-172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.05.012

Rajkarnikar, P. J. (2017). The impacts of foreign labor migration of men on women’s empowerment in Nepal. PhD Thesis, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, USA. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/882/.

Raut, N. K., & Tanaka, R. (2018). Parental absence, remittances and educational investment in children left behind: Evidence from Nepal. Review of Development Economics, 22(4), 1642-1666. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12410

Sapkota, K. (2018). Migration as an agent of social change in the rural areas: A case of Banke District, Nepal. Invention Journal of Research Technology in Engineering & Management (IJRTEM) Www.Ijrtem.Com, 2(7), 97-108. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3267956.

Sapkota, K. (2020). Women in foreign employment: Its impact on the left behind family members in Tanahun district, Nepal. Geographical Journal of Nepal, 13, 69-90. https://doi.org/10.3126/gjn.v13i0.28153

Schwilch, G., Adhikari, A., Cuba, E., Jaboyedoff, M., Jaquet, S., Kaenzing, R., Liniger, H. P., Machaca, A., Penna, I., Sudmeier-Rieux, K., & Upreti, B. (2017). Impacts of out-migration on land management in mountain areas of Nepal and Bolivia. In Identifying emerging issues in disaster risk reduction, migration, climate change and sustainable development (pp. 1-17). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33880-4_11

Sharma, B., & Dangal, M. R. (2019). Seasonal child labour in Nepal’s Brick Kilns: A study of its educational impact and parents’ attitudes towards it. Journal of Education and Work, 32(6–7), 586-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2019.1673886

Shattuck, D., Wasti, S. P., Limbu, N., Chipanta, N. S., & Riley, C. (2019). Men on the move and the wives left behind: the impact of migration on family planning in Nepal. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 27(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2019.1647398

Singh, C. (2019). Migration as a driver of changing household structures: implications for local livelihoods and adaptation. Migration and Development, 8(3), 301-319. https://doi.org/10.1080/21632324.2019.1589073

Speck, S. (2017). “They moved to city areas, abroad”: Views of the elderly on the implications of outmigration for the middle hills of western Nepal. Mountain Research and Development, 37(4), 425-435. https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-17-00034.1

Thapa, D. K., Visentin, D. C., Kornhaber, R., & Cleary, M. (2020). Migration of adult children and quality of life of older parents left-behind in Nepal. Geriatrics and Gerontology International, 20(11), 1061–1066. https://doi.org/10.1111/ggi.14047

Thapa, N., Paudel, M., Guragain, A. M., Thapa, P., Puri, R., Thapa, P., Aryal, K. K., Paudel, B. K., Thapa, R., & Stray-Pedersen, B. (2019). Status of migration and socio-reproductive impacts on migrants and their families left behind in Nepal. Migration and Development, 8(3), 394-417. https://doi.org/10.1080/21632324.2019.1567097

The World Bank. (2016). Personal remittances, received (% of GDP). Data, 19, 1-17. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS.

Wickramage, K., Siriwardhana, C., & Peiris, S. (2015). Issue in brief promoting the health of left-behind children of Asian labour migrants: Evidence for policy and action. October.

World bank. (2018). Male outmigration and women’s work and empowerment in agriculture: The case of Nepal and Senegal (Issue June).
Zhou, C., Sylvia, S., Zhang, L., Luo, R., Yi, H., Liu, C., Shi, Y., Loyalka, P., Chu, J., Medina, A., & Rozelle, S. (2015). China’s left-behind children: Impact of parental migration on health, nutrition, and educational outcomes. Health Affairs, 34(11), 1964-1971. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0150