title: Alone but better off? Adult child migration and health of elderly parents in Moldova.
abstract: Increasing labor migration and simultaneous aging of societies are two important demographic developments many poor countries face. Elderly people who are left behind may experience a decrease in welfare when their children migrate. This paper investigates the effect of migration on various dimensions of elderly health using unique data from Moldova, which has one of the highest emigration rates in the world. We find positive migration effects on body mass index (BMI), mobility and self-reported health. No effects are found on depression and cognitive capacity. We find evidence that these positive outcomes are linked to an income effect which leads to improvements in diet and identify a reallocation of time use from subsistence farming to leisure and sleep which may have further beneficial effects. These positive effects seem to compensate the elderly for decreasing social contact with their migrant family members.
authors.affiliation: Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Böhme
authors.affiliation: ODI Fellow, Ministére de la Santé Publique et de la Lutte contre le Sida, Bujumbura, Burundi(1).
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Persian
authors.affiliation: Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany. Electronic address: tobias.stoehr@ifw-kiel.de.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stöhr
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008966:Moldova; D010290:Parents
keywords: Elderly health; International migration