Rural–urban migration, family arrangement, and children's welfare: Evidence from China's rural areas

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Lili Wei,Ying Yang,Jing Zhang,Lijuan Si
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12720

RESEARCH

Rural–urban migration, family arrangement, and

children’s welfare: Evidence from China’s rural areas

Lili Wei

1,2

|Ying Yang

2

|Jing Zhang

3

|Lijuan Si

1,2

1

Institute of Green Finance, Lanzhou

University, Lanzhou, China

2

School of Economics, Lanzhou University,

Lanzhou, China

3

School of Urban & Regional Science, East

China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Correspondence

Lijuan Si, School of Economics, Lanzhou

University, 222 Tianshui South Road,

Lanzhou, China; or Jing Zhang, School of

Urban & Regional Science, East China

Normal University, Zhongshan Road,

Shanghai, 200241, China.

E-mails: silj@lzu.edu.cn and jingzhang15@lzu.

edu.cn

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the impact

of different migration arrangements on child welfare.

Background: With the rapid economic development in

China, large numbers of migrants are moving to metropol-

itan areas in search of better jobs. They are faced with the

dilemma of whether to leave their children behind in the

countryside due to various socioeconomic factors.

Method: A total of 1005 children with migrant parents and

532 children with nonimmigrant parents were included.

An order logit method was used to estimate the impact of

family arrangements on child welfare by using China Fam-

ily Panel Survey Database 2016. To control for the initial

heterogeneity of individual, family, and regional character-

istics, propensity score matching was used.

Results: The findings revealed that the types of family

arrangement were complicated, with 66.2% of migrant

children in the city with their parents and 74.1% of chil-

dren were left behind in the rural area. Children who

migrate to the city with their parents had significantly

greater improvement in their math and Chinese grades,

overall school performance, and better physical health

than left-behind children. The impact of family arrange-

ments on mental health was not statistically significant.

The impact of migration was more pronounced for chil-

dren under12 years ofage.

Conclusion: Parents’migration decisions have significant

implications for child’s welfare. The presence of parents

and better educational and medical resources are condu-

cive to school performance and physical health for chil-

dren. The impact of life circumstances and social identity

on child’s psychological health needs closer attention.

Implications: Relaxing the household registration system,

making policy adjustments that aim to improve the stan-

dard of living in places where migrants relocate, and pro-

viding conditions for integration are positive, significant

Received: 30 November 2020Revised: 22 April 2021Accepted: 2 October 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12720

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

1586 Family Relations. 2023;72:1586–1606.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

steps that could be taken to promote the physical and men-

tal health of both left-behind and migrant children.

KEYWORDS

child welfare, China Family Panel Survey, family arrangement, left-

behind children, migrant children, rural China

Since China’s reform and opening-up, together with Chinese government–led industrialization,

urbanization, and modernization, China has been experiencing the largest structural transfor-

mation of its economy. Urbanization generates a large demand for workers who have left agri-

cultural production and has effectively made these people into the builders of cities. Mass

population migration is thus an inevitable result of societal development. It was estimated that

in 2017, there were more than 200 million migrants (data come from the Report on Migrant

Population Development in China; National Health Commission, 2018); rural-to-urban

migrants accounted for more than 80% of that figure.

Because of the social identity and cultural adaptation, people living in rural areas have left

agricultural operations to move to the city, where they can earn higher wages. Migration means

a higher income and better living conditions with less economic risk. However, when individ-

uals make the choice to migrate, they may face the dilemma of whether to bring their children

with them to live in the city or leave them behind to live with someone else in the village.

According to a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report,

the number of migrant and left-behind children at the age of compulsory education was more

than 18 million and 15 million, respectively (Melville et al., 2010). Industrialization and urbani-

zation pose challenges for those who are responsible for protecting children’s welfare.

If parents leave children behind in the village, they may not receive enough attention. Like-

wise, due to China’s household registration system (termed hukou), migrants to the city have

generally been marginalized (Fields & Song, 2020). Most of these migrants are denied basic wel-

fare, such as subsidized housing, public education, and health care. Existing studies suggest that

child welfare refers not only to basic needs for survival but also to the environment and oppor-

tunities essential for children’s growth and development. These requirements include education

and physical and mental health.

URBANIZATION, HUKOU, AND MIGRATION

China’s government formulated the household registration system in 1958. The aim of this sys-

tem is to control population migration through the strategic allocation and distribution of

resources and interests in the planned economy. There are many differences in social security

policy between the nonagricultural hukou living in the city and the agricultural hukou living in

the village (Cai, 2011; Zhou & Cheung, 2017).

As the urbanization process is accelerating, rural–urban migrants are constantly improving

the composition and allocation of labor. There have also been huge changes in migrantpolicy,

whereby discriminatory practices have been gradually ended, thus fully allowing for the settle-

ment of rural–urban migrants in small cities. However, the relaxation of the household registra-

tion policy and the gradual end to discriminatory policies have not eliminated the migrants’

problems—in particular, the separation of migrant families and the marginalization of migrants

living in cities.

There may be intergenerational transmission of the social stratification and segregation cau-

sed by the household registration system, affecting the welfare of second-generation migrants

living in cities. Although some migrant children are not separated from their parents, there are

RURAL–URBAN MIGRATION AND CHILDREN’S WELFARE IN CHINA1587