Rural parents with urban children

Social and economic implications of migration on the rural elderly in Thailand

By: Knodel J, Saengtienchai C
Produced by: Population Studies Center (PSC), University of Michigan, 2005

This study aimes to explore the circumstances in Thailand under which the migration of rural adult children to urban areas takes place, with attention to how parents and their situation influence these decisions, and the consequences for the social and economic well-being of parents who remain behind in the rural areas after the children leave. The analysis relies primarily on open ended interviews conducted in 2004 with older age parents with migrant children from four purposively selected rural communities that were studied 10 years earlier.