Youth Exodus from Nepal: Seeking Education and Employment Abroad

Uttam Sharma, University of Michigan
Dirgha J. Ghimire, University of Michigan

Youth migration for work and study from low- and middle-income countries to advanced nations is a growing concern with multifaceted implications affecting families and communities in their places of origin. Despite rising aspirations to migrate, the drivers behind these desires remain under-researched in countries like Nepal. This study aims to address this gap by examining the factors influencing youth and parental aspirations for youth migration abroad using a representative data from 1,953 youths from Western Chitwan, Nepal. Using longitudinal data collected from grade 8 in 2018 and five years later, the study provides a comprehensive understanding of migration aspirations. The findings indicate that 87% of youths and 63% of parents anticipate youth’s overseas migration for work or study. Logistic regression analysis reveals that factors such as gender, ethnicity, household income, private school attendance, and academic performance in grade 8 significantly influence aspirations for studying abroad. Results from multinomial logistic regression analysis suggest that academically better-performing youths are more likely to prefer staying in Nepal rather than going abroad for work. Interestingly, parents of better-performing youths are not more likely to prefer that their children go abroad for study over staying in Nepal, even after accounting for their background characteristics.

Keywords: Human Capital, Education, and Work, Longitudinal studies , International Migration, Children, Adolescents, and Youth

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