Peer-reviewed article
The impacts of migration on child well-being in Vietnam: The mediating role of household welfare
Hue Thi Hoang, Phuong Thi Xuan Ngo ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines how migration affects child well-being in Vietnam, using data from a 2020-2021 national survey of over 5,000 households. The researchers found that areas with higher migration rates have better household welfare, which in turn improves children's overall well-being measured across multiple dimensions of happiness. The study used statistical modelling to show this indirect relationship between migration and child outcomes through improved household economic conditions.
Key points
- High immigration rates positively impact household welfare in Vietnam
- Improved household welfare mediates the positive relationship between migration and child well-being
- The study uses a comprehensive child well-being index to measure overall happiness relevant to developing country contexts
- An asset index was used to measure household welfare as a proxy for long-term living standards
- Data source was the Vietnam Sustainable Development Goal Indicators for Children and Women survey conducted jointly by GSO and UNICEF in 2020-2021
Limitations
The study is observational and cross-sectional, so it cannot establish causal effects or determine the direction of relationships with certainty. The analysis is conducted at the cluster level rather than individual level, which may obscure important variation within communities.
Abstract
• A high rate of immigration positively impacts household welfare, thereby enhancing children's wellbeing. • Utilizing the comprehensive wellbeing index to measure the overall happiness of children, aiming for long-term significance while ensuring relevance when researching in developing countries. • Using the asset index to measure household welfare aims to represent long-term living standards in a volatile economic context. • Using the MICs 6 dataset for the study, which was conducted by UNICEF and the General Statistics Office (GSO). This research assesses the effects of migration on child well-being in Vietnam through the mediating role of household welfare at the cluster level. To give an overall picture of these above relationships, the authors use the Ordinary Least Squares regression model (OLS) and the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to examine the mediating relationships, based on the secondary data collected from Vietnam Sustainable Development Goal Indicators for Children and Women survey in the period 2020-2021 by the General Statistics Office (GSO) and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). The results show that migration increases household welfare, which in turn has a positive effect on child well-being. This research proposes several recommendations with the expectation of supporting the Government in managing and improving child well-being in high-migration areas.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Migration to areas with higher immigration rates
- Population
- Children and households in Vietnam at cluster level from the MICs 6 dataset (2020-2021 survey period)
Key finding
Migration increases household welfare