International Migration, Remittances, and Poverty in Developing Countries

Adams, Richard H., Jr. ; Page, John

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AIR;    AVAILABLE DATA;    AVERAGE INCOME;    BALANCE OF PAYMENTS;    CENSUS DATA;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3179
RP-ID  :  WPS3179

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Few studies have examined the impact ofinternational migration and remittances on poverty in abroad cross-section of developing countries. The authors tryto fill this gap by constructing a new data set on poverty,international migration, and remittances for 74 low- andmiddle-income developing countries. Four key findingsemerge: 1) International migration-defined as the share of acountry's population living abroad-has a strong,statistical impact in reducing poverty. On average, a 10percent increase in the share of international migrants in acountry's population will lead to a 1.9 percent declinein the share of people living in poverty ($1.00 a person aday). 2) Distance to a major labor-receiving region-like theUnited States or OECD (Europe)-has an important effect oninternational migration. Developing countries that arelocated closest to the United States or OECD (Europe) arealso those countries with the highest rates of migration. 3)An inverted U-shaped curve exists between the level ofcountry per capita income and international migration.Developing countries with low or high per capita GDP producesmaller shares of international migrants than domiddle-income developing countries. The authors find noevidence that developing countries with higher levels ofpoverty produce more migrants. Because of considerabletravel costs associated with international migration,international migrants come from those income groups whichare just above the poverty line in middle-income developingcountries. 4) International remittances-defined as the shareof remittances in country GDP-have a strong, statisticalimpact in reducing poverty. On average, a 10 percentincrease in the share of international remittances in acountry's GDP will lead to a 1.6 percent decline in theshare of people living in poverty.