Migration and Household Welfare in Ethiopia
Lisa Andersson, University of Gothenburg
Katie Kuschminder, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Migration and Household Welfare
1. Loss of Labour from household
2. Remittances
3. Return Migration:
– Return of Success
– Return of Failure
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Return Migration and Household
Welfare
• Less evidence than in the case of
remittances
• Human and Social Capital Accumulation
• Kilic et al. (2009) found a strong, positive
relation between past (return) migration and
non-farm business ownership in Albaniaincreased for people who did not return from
Greece
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Remittances and Household Welfare
• Macro level- remittances lead to positive economic
growth
• Adams and Page, 2005- “a 10% increase in per
capita official international remittances in a
developing country will lead to a 3.5% decline in the
share of people living on less than
$1.00/person/day”
• Hildebrandt and McKenzie, 2004 – children born in
international migration households are 3% less
likely to die in their first year than children in nonmigration households .
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Literature Gaps
• Remittances – Little evidence on the
household effect in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Still questions as to how return
migration affects the household
• Comparability between non-migrant,
current migrant, remittance receiving,
and return migrant households
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Case Study: Ethiopia
• Population of 80 million
• Emigration rate of 0.4%
• Estimated Diaspora
Population of 1-2 Million
• Remittances 2010- $0.4
Billion
• Remittances estimated at
2.2% of GDP
• Diaspora Largely
concentrated in Middle East,
North America, and Europe
• Ranks 169 on the HDI
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
IS Academy Survey: Ethiopia
• 1226 Household Surveys
• 15 Sites in 5 regions
• Purposive Two-stage Sampling
Strategy
– 15 Woredas Selected and 3 Kebeles in
each Woreda Listed
• Random Selection of Households for
Enumeration
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Descriptive Statistics
All CM
HHs
Unique
CM HHs
n
406
156
271
33
161
121
665
1225
%
33.12
12.72
22.10
2.69
13.13
9.87
54.24
100
Average
HH Size
6.3
6
6.2
5
5.7
5.3
4.9
5.4
Urban
(n)
161
52
119
15
79
50
211
442
39.66
52
12.81
33.33
21
13.46
43.91
39
14.39
45.45
9
27.27
49.07
29
18.01
41.32
19
15.70
31.73
94
14.14
36.08
177
14.45
%
Addis (n)
%
All
RR
HHs
Unique
RR HHs
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
All
RM
HHs
Unique
RMS
HHs
NM
HHs
All
HHs
All CM
Unique
All RR
Unique
Descriptive
Statistics
HHs
CM HHs
HHs
RR HHs
HHs with
Children (n)
All RM
HHs
Unique
RMS HHs
NM
HHs
All HHs
292
108
202
25
122
87
496
906
71.92
69.23
74.54
75.76
75.78
71.90
74.59
73.96
Ave No. Of
Children
2.4
2.5
2.4
2.6
2.6
2.7
2.7
2.6
HHs with
Young
Children
53
21
38
8
35
29
141
232
13.05
13.46
14.02
24.24
21.74
23.97
21.20
18.94
Average No.
Of Working
Age in HH
(18-65)
3.9
3.7
3.8
2.7
3.3
2.9
2.6
3.1
Average No.
Of Working
Age in HH
(14-65)
4.5
4.3
4.4
3.1
3.8
3.4
3.1
3.6
%
%
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
All CM
Unique
All RR
Unique HH
All RM
Unique
Descriptive
Statistics:
Head
HH Head
Migration
Experience
%
Years of
Education of
HH head
Age of HH
Head
Female HH
Head
%
HH Head
Farmer
%
HH Head
Employed
%
HHs
CM HHs
HHs
RR HHs
HHs
RMS HHs
NM
HHs
25
10
10
0
90
66
0
115
6.16
6.41
3.69
0.00
55.90
54.55
0.00
9.39
4.19
4.2
4.6
6.81
4.47
4.27
4.12
4.25
54.43
52
53.9
45.36
51.65
49.07
47.83
50.04
147
52
102
10
46
26
217
403
36.21
33.33
37.64
30.30
28.57
21.49
32.63
32.90
141
60
84
8
54
44
237
431
34.73
38.46
31.00
24.24
33.54
36.36
35.64
35.18
46
25
31
8
13
10
119
185
11.33
16.03
11.44
24.24
8.07
8.26
17.89
15.10
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
All HHs
Migration Destination and Remittances
Migration
Destination
Number of Migrants
Remittances (Birr,
past 12 months)
Middle East
231 (45.5%)
6803
Africa
102 (20.1%)
3585
34 (6.7%)
14203
106 (20.9%)
15129
21 (4.2%)
-
494
14520
Europe
North America
Other
Total
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Coefficient
Standard Deviation
Size**
.2664753
.072892
Children**
-.2179473
.0681162
Youngchild
-.1148455
.1293661
Workingage2
-.063594
.0651691
Urban**
.364238
.1369023
Primary
.0448762
.1839283
Secondary
-.0151668
.2203479
Higher
-.0072896
.3261758
Eduyear
.0181983
.016052
Headage
.0010577
.0039869
Gender
-.2083357
.1168207
Employed**
-.4072034
.1695413
Business**
-.6038059
.1612211
Agricultural
-.1565729
.1503318
Housework
-.2485482
.1627678
Amhara
.2276191
.1673608
Tigray
.3047105
.1703395
SNNP**
.3927394
.1856166
Oromiya**
.3417249
.1670741
_cons
Maastricht
Graduate School-1.75596
of Governance
.2790979
Coefficient
Standard
Deviation
Size**
.2503439
.0709807
Children**
-.2021814
.0666013
Youngchild
-.113646
.1264231
Workingage2
-.0421193
.0634013
Urban**
.2607733
.1112215
Primary
-.0549576
.1807062
Secondary
-.0199543
.2141086
Higher
-.0592852
.3167139
Eduyear
.0132747
.0154802
Headage
-.0015558
.0037794
Employed**
-.5191225
.1541103
Business**
-.6714826
.1499707
Agricultural
-.2949744
.1230465
Housework
-.2973032
.1539694
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Coefficient
Standard Deviation
Size**
Children**
youngchild
workingage2
Urban**
primary
secondary
higher
eduyear
headage
employed
Business**
Agricultural**
Housework**
Amhara
Tigray*
.2523373
-.2113543
-.1125477
-.0485789
.4106147
-.0535971
-.003845
.0051831
.0121978
-.001866
-.5212362
-.6995102
-.2919443
-.3165302
.2275308
.2936102
.0716462
.0670449
.1265045
.0643349
.1336053
.1825746
.2172137
.3192276
.0156656
.0038501
.1547323
.1515461
.129485
.1554764
.1619091
.1659209
SNNP**
Oromiya*
.4208115
.3117498
.1819743
.162207
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Discussion
• Probability to remit is:
– More likely if have large household size
– Less likely if have children
– More likely if live in an Urban Area
– Less likely if the HH Head has employment
– Less likely if the HH Head owns their own
business
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Next Steps
• Propensity Score Matching:
– Remittance Receiving Households to NonMigrant HHs
– Question regarding Return Migration
• Look further at the effect of migration
on welfare using food expenditure per
capita or per adult equivalent
• Comparability between the different
groups
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance
Thank you!
Lisa.andersson@economics.gu.se
Katie.kuschminder@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance