Domestic and International Remittances and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Narges Ebadi, Davod Ahmadi and Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez
Additional contact information
Narges Ebadi: McGill University, Canada
Davod Ahmadi: McGill Institute for Global Food Security, McGill University, Canada
Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez: School of Human Nutrition, McGill University, Canada

Remittances Review, 2020, vol. 5, issue 1, 37-54

Abstract: The amount of remittances to developing counties, defined as the flow of monetary and non-monetary goods, has increased globally and has surpassed the amount of money spent on foreign aid in these developing countries. The impact of remittances on households’ purchasing power has been studied; however, its link to food security status is yet to be explored. This paper quantitatively analyses the relationship between food security status (measured using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale) and the receipt of domestic/ international or both remittances on households in sub- Saharan Africa. Data are derived from the Gallup World Poll from the years 2014-2017. Multinomial logistic regression models and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. Results showed that remittance recipients had significantly higher household incomes (especially if the remittance was coming internationally and domestically), lived with significantly more household members (7 or more members), and were more likely to be separated (including divorced or widowed). Households that received domestic remittances had significantly higher odds of being food insecure than households receiving no remittances. Conversely, households receiving remittances internationally or a combination of domestic and international remittances had significantly lower odds of food insecurity compared to non-receivers. This study found that receiving remittances affect the food security status of people living in SSA countries.

Keywords: Domestic remittances; international remittances; food security status; sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 F24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.tplondon.com/rem/article/view/842/744 (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:mig:remrev:v:5:y:2020:i:1:p:37-54

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://remittancesreview.com/

DOI: 10.33182/rr.v5i1.842

Access Statistics for this article

Remittances Review is currently edited by Prof Mariam Cornell

More articles in Remittances Review from Remittances Review
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Rem Rev ().