Drivers of overseas labour migration, migration intensity, and destination choice among farming households in Nepal

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the study.

Figure 2. Map of the study area.

Table 1. Summary statistics of explanatory variables used for examining overseas labour migration and migration intensity.

Variables	Variable description	All households (N = 465)			Non-migrant households (N = 266)			Overseas labour migrant households (N = 199)			Mean difference (t-test)
		Mean	SD		Mean	SD		Mean	SD
Age_household_head	Age of the household head (years)	53.90	12.30		54.74	11.76		52.78	12.93		1.953*
Farming_exp_household_head	Farming experience of the household head (years)	20.25	11.09		22.48	11.16		17.26	10.29		5.229***
Prop_HH_member_higher_edu	Proportion of household members with higher education	0.39	0.27		0.41	0.28		0.36	0.24		0.044*
Members_employed	=1 if household members employed at home; 0 = No	0.29	0.45		0.41	0.49		0.12	0.33		0.293***
Non-farm_business	=1 if household members involved in non-farm business; 0 = No	0.16	0.37		0.19	0.39		0.13	0.34		0.057*
Brahmin_Chhetri	=1 if household is from Brahmin or Chhetri community; 0 = No	0.60	0.49		0.65	0.48		0.52	0.50		0.128***
Janajati	=1 if household is from Janajati ethnic group; 0 = No	0.29	0.45		0.26	0.44		0.33	0.47		–0.071*
Dalit	=1 if household is from Dalit community; 0 = No	0.12	0.32		0.09	0.29		0.15	0.36		–0.057*
Household_size	Household size	5.16	1.87		4.91	1.84		5.50	1.87		–0.584***
Dependency_ratio	Dependency ratio	0.45	0.51		0.42	0.52		0.48	0.50		–0.063
Farm_size	Farm size owned by the household (hectare)	0.41	0.41		0.45	0.41		0.35	0.41		0.100**
Tropical_Livestock_Unit	Tropical livestock unit (TLU)	1.72	4.95		1.87	3.42		1.51	6.46		0.363
Irrigation_access	=1 if household has irrigation access; 0 = No	0.57	0.50		0.60	0.49		0.52	0.50		0.075
Credit_access	=1 if household has access to credit; 0 = No	0.91	0.28		0.89	0.31		0.93	0.25		–0.040
Household_debt	=1 if household in debt; 0 = No	0.64	0.48		0.59	0.49		0.71	0.45		–0.115**
Assetindex	Asset or Wealth Index	–0.11	2.21		0.25	2.33		–0.60	1.93		0.850***
Relatives_abroad	=Number of relatives abroad	1.83	2.05		1.39	1.92		2.43	2.08		–1.045***
Neighbours_abroad	=Number of neighbours abroad	4.31	3.90		3.47	3.39		5.42	4.26		–1.948***
Connections_RA	=Number of recruitment agencies that household had connections	0.20	0.52		0.06	0.30		0.40	0.67		–0.34***
Hill	=1 if household is located in the hills; 0 = No	0.50	0.50		0.44	0.50		0.59	0.49		–0.144***
Semi_urban_area	=1 if household is located near district headquarter; 0 = No	0.51	0.50		0.51	0.50		0.51	0.50		0.007

Note: ***, ** and * indicate statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% levels, respectively; SD refers to standard deviation.

Table 2. Summary statistics of explanatory variables used for examining destination choice of overseas labour migrants.

Variables	Variable descriptions	All overseas labour migrants (227)			MME countries (181)			Other destinations (46)			Mean difference (t-test)
		Mean	SD		Mean	SD		Mean	SD
Individual characteristics
Age	Age of migrant before emigration (years)	26.05	5.53		26.18	5.62		25.52	5.15		–0.658
Education	Education (years)	10.06	2.91		9.41	2.69		12.59	2.28		3.172***
Married	=1 if the individual is married; 0 = Otherwise	0 .56	0.50		0.51	0.49		0.48	0.50		–0.102
Occupation of overseas labour migrants before emigration
Farming	=1 if migrant was involved in farming activities; 0 = No	0 .35	0.48		0.41	0.49		0.11	0.31		–0.306***
Non_farming	=1 if migrant was involved in non-farming activities; 0 = No	0 .26	0.44		0.25	0.44		0.30	0.46		0.050
Student	=1 if migrant was a student; 0 = No	0 .28	0.45		0.21	0.41		0.54	0.50		0.328***
Unemployed	=1 if migrant was unemployed; 0 = No	0 .10	0.30		0.12	0.32		0.04	0.21		–0.072
Household characteristics
Age_household_head	Age of the household head (years)	53.35	12.59		52.19	13.13		57.91	8.95		5.720***
Members_employed	=1 if household members employed at home; 0 = No	0 .16	0.37		0.13	0.33		0.30	0.46		0.177***
Non-farm_Business	=1 if household members involved in non-farm business; 0 = No	0 .11	0.32		0.14	0.34		0.02	0.15		–0.116**
Brahmin_Chhetri	=1 if migrant is from Brahmin or Chhetri community; 0 = No	0 .51	0.50		0.49	0.50		0.59	0.50		0.101
Janajati	=1 if migrant is from Janajati ethnic group; 0 = No	0 .34	0.47		0.33	0.47		0.37	0.49		0.038
Dalit	=1 if migrant is from Dalit community; 0 = No	0 .15	0.36		0.18	0.39		0.04	0.21		–0.138**
Household_size	Household size	5.70	1.98		5.58	2.04		6.15	1.70		0.572*
Dependency_ratio	Dependency ratio	0.46	0.49		0.50	0.49		0.32	0.44		–0.180**
Farm_size	Farm size owned by the household (hectare)	0.36	0.41		0.35	0.42		0.42	0.33		0.072
Assetindex	Asset or wealth index before emigration	−0.43	1.99		−0.71	1.78		0.65	2.38		1.356***
Relatives_abroad	=Number of relatives abroad	2 .58	1.95		2.50	1.97		2.87	1.92		0.367
Neighbours_abroad	=Number of neighbours abroad	5 .38	4.21		5.15	4.12		6.28	4.51		1.133
Connections_RA	=Number of recruitment agencies that household had connections	0 .43	0.75		0.46	0.78		0.30	0.59		–0.154
Hill	=1 if household is located in the hills; 0 = No	0 .59	0.49		0.56	0.50		0.70	0.46		0.132
Semi_urban_area	=1 if household is located near district headquarter; 0 = No	0 .50	0.50		0.47	0.50		0.61	0.49		0.133

Note: ***, ** and * indicate statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% levels, respectively; SD refers to standard deviation.

Table 3. GTM-FRM results: factors influencing overseas labour migration and migration intensity.

Explanatory variables	Coefficients	Standard error	Marginal effects	Standard error
Migration intensity
Age_household_head	–	–	–	–
Farming_exp_household_head	–0.006**	0.003	–0.002**	0.001
Prop_mem_hiedu	0.214*	0.121	0.060*	0.033
Members_employed	–0.270***	0.072	–0.075***	0.017
Non-farm_business_income	0.026	0.063	0.008	0.017
Brahmin_Chhetri (Reference group)
Janajati	0.054	0.500	0.015	0.013
Dalit	0.057	0.061	0.016	0.017
Household_size (migrants included)	–	–	–	–
Dependency_ratio	0.412***	0.052	0.114***	0.016
Farm_size	–0.120***	0.044	–0.033**	0.013
Tropical_Livestock_Unit	–0.000	0.003	0.000	0.001
Irrigation_access	–0.086**	0.041	–0.024**	0.011
Credit_access	0.183**	0.078	0.051**	0.021
Household_debt	0.120***	0.045	0.033***	0.012
Assetindex	–0.056***	0.015	–0.016***	0.004
Relatives_abroad	0.015	0.011	0.004	0.003
Neighbours_abroad	0.004	0.006	0.001	0.002
Connections_RA	0.127***	0.039	0.035***	0.009
Hill	0.219***	0.056	0.061***	0.014
Semi_urban_area	0.058	0.046	0.016	0.013
Constant	–1.292***	0.147
Overseas labour migration
Age_household_head	0.052***	0.014	0.011***	0.003
Farming_exp_household_head	–0.083***	0.015	–0.018***	0.003
Prop_mem_hiedu	1.267***	0.349	0.280***	0.073
Members_employed	–1.289***	0.196	–0.284***	0.037
Non-farm_business_income	–0.292	0.213	–0.064	0.046
Brahmin_Chhetri (Reference group)
Janajati	0.470**	0.190	0.104**	0.041
Dalit	0.273	0.245	0.060	0.054
Household_size (migrants included)	0.246***	0.053	0.054***	0.010
Dependency_ratio	–0.002	0.155	–0.000	0.034
Farm_size	–0.331*	0.175	–0.073*	0.038
Tropical_Livestock_Unit	–0.016	–0.012	–0.003	0.003
Irrigation_access	–0.329**	0.158	–0.073***	0.034
Credit_access	0.700**	0.270	0.154**	0.058
Household_debt	0.412**	0.164	0.091**	0.035
Assetindex	–0.324***	0.052	–0.071***	0.009
Relatives_abroad	0.099**	0.049	0.022**	0.010
Neighbours_abroad	0.054**	0.023	0.012**	0.004
Connections_RA	1.077***	0.219	0.238***	0.045
Hill	0.878***	0.168	0.194***	0.035
Semi_urban_area	0.406**	0.176	0.089***	0.038
Constant	–4.722***	0.711
/atanhrho_12	0.367***	0.082
rho_12	0.351	0.073

Note: ***, ** and * indicate statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% levels, respectively.

Table 4. Probit model results for destination choice (MME countries) of overseas labour migrants (reference group: other destinations).

Explanatory variables	Marginal effects	Standard errors
Individual characteristics
Age	–0.007	0.005
Education	–0.042***	0.012
Married	–0.025	0.055
Occupation of overseas labour migrants before emigration
Farming (Reference group)
Non_farming	–0.059	0.050
Student	–0.141**	−0.060
Unemployed	–0.086	0.086
Household characteristics
Age_household_head	–0.002	0.002
Members_employed	–0.129**	0.058
Non-farm_Business	0.214**	0.084
Brahmin_Chhetri (Reference group)
Janajati	–0.083*	0.050
Dalit	–0.005	0.084
Household_size	–0.017	0.012
Dependency_ratio	0.097	0.059
Farm_size	–0.016	0.044
Assetindex	–0.025**	0.011
Relatives_abroad	–0.012	0.013
Neighbours_abroad	–0.005	0.006
Connections_RA	0.064**	0.031
Hill	–0.017	0.050
Semi_urban_area	–0.038	0.051
Observation	227

Note: ***, ** and * indicate statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% levels, respectively.