Debt-financed emigration, migration experience, and household economy: insight from Kerala, India

ABSTRACT

This present study intends to investigate the pattern and predictor debt-financed emigration and its impact on migration experience and the household economy in Kerala using Kerala Migration Survey (KMS), 2018 data. Bivariate and multivariate analyses (binary logistic regression) were performed, and the debt-to-income ratio (DTI) was computed to fulfil the study's objective. The result shows that 45.52% of Keralite emigrants borrow debt regarding their socio-economic status to finance their emigration process. Debt-financed emigrants spend high costs on visas, air tickets, and passports as majority of them recruited through agents than non-debt-financed emigrants. Debt migration may not be a profitable or sustainable endeavour, as non-debt migrants’ annual savings and monthly expenditures are higher than debt migrants. The debt-to-income ratio (DTI) also shows that the financial health of the debt-financed migrant household is in more severe condition than the non-debt.

KEYWORDS:

• Emigration
• migration cost
• financing for migration
• agents
• debt
• Kerala migration survey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Raw data were generated at the Center for Development Studies (CDS), Kerala. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Sourav Mandal, on request.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Manoj Paul

Manoj Paul is a Research Scholar (PhD) at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Deonar, Mumbai, 400088, Maharashtra, India.

Sourav Mandal

Sourav Mandal is a Research Scholar (PhD) at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Deonar, Mumbai, 400088, Maharashtra, India.