Labour Migration Negatively Affects Well-Being of Migrants' Children Left Home

When one or both parents emigrate in order to find employment abroad and leave their children behind in their country of origin, this has a negative impact on the health and on the psychological well-being of the children. There is, however, also a positive impact on children's performance at school. This is shown by a study carried out by the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in cooperation with Alina Botezat, researcher at Gh. Zane Institute of Economic and Social Research at the Romanian Academy in Iasi. The study uses data from a representative survey carried out amongst children and young people living in Romania, a country with high levels of emigration.

Over the last 15 years, increasing numbers of adults have left Romania in order to find employment abroad. Emigrants often leave their children in their home country. The ZEW investigation shows that children and young people in such families suffer more frequently from illness or depression than those in families in which both parents live in Romania. This effect is particularly pronounced in the case of minors growing up in rural regions.

A second effect, however, is that where one or both parents leave Romania, the school performance of the children or young people concerned improves. The study suggests that this positive effect is attributable to the fact that the children concerned spend more time learning and completing homework than their classmates who are not affected by parental migration. The positive impact on school performance is in particular observable amongst children living in urban areas.

Due to the fact that not all parents inform the authorities of their plans to emigrate, it is not possible to provide an accurate figure of how many minors remain in Romania whilst at least one parent is working abroad. Official statistics for Romania would suggest that in 2008, such a situation concerned a total of 92,000 minors. This constitutes around two per cent of all children and youths in the country. Alternative estimates, however, suggest that more than 350,000 minors are affected.

Similar developments can also be seen in other Eastern European countries. Country-specific studies show that in Moldova around 17 per cent, and in Albania around 22 per cent of all children have at least one parent working and living abroad. Although there are no verifiable figures available, this is also a recognised issue in Bulgaria.

"Given that labour migration is likely to further increase in the European Union, policy-makers in the countries concerned should ensure that the negative impacts are reduced. Psychological mentoring could be one means to support the most affected children," recommends Friedhelm Pfeiffer, co-author of the study and ZEW researcher.

For further information please contact

PD Dr. Friedhelm Pfeiffer, Phone +49 (0)621/1235-150, E-mail pfeiffer@zew.de