Migration, Remittances and the Well-Being of Left-Behind Children: A National-Level Quantitative Assessment of Guatemala

Historically, Guatemalans have suffered high rates of poverty and malnutrition while nearly ten percent of their population resides abroad. This investigation uses multilevel modeling to quantify associations among Guatemalan fathers’ and mothers’ migration, remittances and left-behind children’s well-being. Based on national-level data collected in 2000, the investigation’s major findings include: for every month a father was away from the household the previous year, a left-behind child aged <3 was 26.3 and 26.6 percent more likely to be stunted or severely stunted, respectively, while a left-behind child aged <5 was 16.2 percent more likely to be underweight. In contrast, the receipt of remittance income did not have a countervailing beneficial association with measures of stunting, severe stunting, or being underweight. The importance of these findings relates to parental goals for enhancing the well-being of their children. Many parents use international economic migration as a means to improve the livelihoods of their children. However, as the results from this study show, these altruistic actions may have an ultimate and permanent negative impact on their children’s well-being if the timing of international economic migration coincides with the critical, first three years of a child’s life.