Children Living Apart from Parents in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Comparing Household and Mother Measures

Cassandra Cotton, Arizona State University
Kerry MacQuarrie, The DHS Program (Avenir Health)
Thomas Pullum, Demographic and Health Surveys Program

Children living separately from biological parents is a common arrangement in many low/middle-income regions. These arrangements occur for many reasons, including family crises and voluntary transfers of children. In this study, we use household and birth history data from 70 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted since 2000 to determine proportions of children aged 0 to 17 years who reside away from parents and age and sex distributions of these children. We develop two measures to capture children’s living arrangements away from parents: 1) household measure, which provides estimates of children residing in households without either parent, and 2) mother’s report, which provides estimates of all children residing away from their surviving mother. We find child non-residence is common throughout nearly all countries, though with clear variation within and across regions. Prevalence is substantially higher in much of sub-Saharan Africa versus other areas. The proportion of children living in households without parents or away from mothers increases, often significantly, with age. While patterns across both measures are broadly similar, comparing measures highlights differences as each captures different child populations. These measures provide nuanced understanding of prevalence of these arrangements, variation within and across regions, and patterns by children’s age and sex.

Keywords: Families, Unions and Households, Children, Adolescents, and Youth

See extended abstract.