International Migration, Remittances, and Poverty in Developing Countries
Few studies have examined the impact of international migration and remittances on poverty in a broad cross-section of developing countries. The authors try to fill this gap by constructing a new data set on poverty, international migration, and re...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/12/2862538/international-migration-remittances-poverty-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17433 |
| Summary: | Few studies have examined the impact of
international migration and remittances on poverty in a
broad cross-section of developing countries. The authors try
to fill this gap by constructing a new data set on poverty,
international migration, and remittances for 74 low- and
middle-income developing countries. Four key findings
emerge: 1) International migration-defined as the share of a
country's population living abroad-has a strong,
statistical impact in reducing poverty. On average, a 10
percent increase in the share of international migrants in a
country's population will lead to a 1.9 percent decline
in the share of people living in poverty ($1.00 a person a
day). 2) Distance to a major labor-receiving region-like the
United States or OECD (Europe)-has an important effect on
international migration. Developing countries that are
located closest to the United States or OECD (Europe) are
also those countries with the highest rates of migration. 3)
An inverted U-shaped curve exists between the level of
country per capita income and international migration.
Developing countries with low or high per capita GDP produce
smaller shares of international migrants than do
middle-income developing countries. The authors find no
evidence that developing countries with higher levels of
poverty produce more migrants. Because of considerable
travel costs associated with international migration,
international migrants come from those income groups which
are just above the poverty line in middle-income developing
countries. 4) International remittances-defined as the share
of remittances in country GDP-have a strong, statistical
impact in reducing poverty. On average, a 10 percent
increase in the share of international remittances in a
country's GDP will lead to a 1.6 percent decline in the
share of people living in poverty. |
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