Offspring Migration and Nutritional Status of Left-behind Older Adults in Rural China

Chang Liu, Tor Eriksson and Fujin Yi
Additional contact information
Chang Liu: Nanjing Forestry University
Fujin Yi: Nanjing Agricultural University

Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University

Abstract: Improvements in nutritional status is a principal pathway to good health. This study examines the effect of migration of adult children on the nutrient intake of left-behind older adults in rural China. We use data from four waves (2004–2011) of the China Health and Nutrition Survey and utilize individual fixed effects methods to panel data. Results show that the migration of offspring is associated with significantly higher nutritional status of their left-behind parents, especially higher intake of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins B1–B3, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, selenium, and copper. The intake of some of these nutrients is below recommended levels. The magnitude of the estimated effects vary between 4% and 24%. Older adults who live with their grandchildren in rural households or have a low income benefit more from having adult child migrants in the household. The improvement of nutrition outcomes of left-behind older adults is mainly due to increased consumption of cereals, meat, eggs, and fish.

Keywords: Offspring migration; Nutrient intake; Food composition; Left-behind older adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 J61 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59
Date: 2021-03-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cna, nep-dev, nep-mig and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://repec.econ.au.dk/repec/afn/wp/21/wp21_03.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Offspring migration and nutritional status of left-behind older adults in rural China (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aah:aarhec:2021-03

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().