the honduran experience in measuring remittances through household surveys washington dc

THE HONDURAN EXPERIENCE IN MEASURING REMITTANCES THROUGH

HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS

Washington DCJanuary 2008

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

AGENDA

•BACKGROUND•THE PROJECT•THE SURVEY•RESULTS•LESSONS LEARNED

THE PROJECT

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

BACKGROUND

• 2001: Collect data on remittances as source of income for households•2002: NSO from Central America join efforts to standardize the collection of data on remittances and migration•2005: Honduras presents the project titled “Migration and remittances in Central American countries.”•2006: IADB sponsors the project. First meeting to plan the surveys. Honduras includes the remittance module in the XXXIII EPHPM•2007: Presentation of Results

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

PARTICIPANTS

•Costa Rica•Dominican Republic•El Salvador•Guatemala•Honduras•Nicaragua•Panama

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

PROJECT STATUS IN 2007

Costa Rica: Still processing

Dominican Republic: Data collection stage

El Salvador: Data collection stage

Guatemala: Planning data collection in 2008

Honduras: Results published

Nicaragua: Still processing

Panama: Planning data collection in 2008

THE SURVEY

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

MAIN OBJECTIVE

To measure international migration flows and the reception of remittances in Honduran households.

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

•To measure the impact of migration flows and remittances on the Honduran economy•To analyze households with members living abroad•To identify causes and frequency of migration flows•To analyze households who receive remittances•To identify the frequency, amount and use of remittances

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

•Rider survey on a permanent household survey

•Modules:

• Returns

• Remittances

• Emigration

•Through PHS: Immigration and internal migration

METHODOLOGY

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

•Other experiences (Census 2001, Living Standard Survey, PHS)

•International consulting

•Interview returnees

•Pilot survey

METHODOLOGY

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

SAMPLE DESIGN

Households and PSU´s in sample

Domains of estimation

HH Enumeration Areas

Total 20,955 4,191 Tegucigalpa 3,510 702 San Pedro Sula 2,345 469 Other cities 5,815 1,163 Rural 9,285 1,857

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

•Stratified•Two-stage

• PSU: Enumeration areas• SSU: Compact Groups

•Systematic Selection with Random Start

SAMPLE DESIGN

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

1. Returnees: last 10 years (at least one year of residence in host country)

2. International Migration: all cases.

3. Remittances: 12 months prior to the interview.

REFERENCE PERIOD

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

RETURNEES

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

RETURNEES

Population returned from abroad: 0.5%

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

HOST COUNTRY

68.9

13.97.4 9.8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

%

UnitedStates

CentralAmerica

Mexico ROW

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

ACTIVITY IN HOST COUNTRY

Studying9.7%

Domestichelp

3.6%

Working and studying

1.3%

Working79.3%

Nothing 5.1%

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

CAUSE OF RETURN

53.2

13.8

13.4

6.6

6.5

2.3

2.2

2.0

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Family reasons

Deported

Other

Health problems

Came with parents

Economic reasons

Did not find a job

End of school

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

EMIGRATION

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

EMIGRATION

Source Year Emigrants

US Census 2000 217,569 Census 2001 58,745 PHSMP 2002 194,610 PHSMP 2003 227,459 LSMS 2004 254,530 PHSMP 2006 246,620

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

HH with at least one member living abroad: 11.3%

HH with a member planning to emigrate in the next 12 months: 8.2%

Emigrants: 70% male

58% elementary school only

EMIGRATION

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

Population pyramid of emigrants by gender and 5-year age groups

55,000 50,000 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000

0-4

5-910-1415-19

20-2425-2930-34

35-3940-4445-49

50-5455-5960-64

65+

Ag

e

Population

Male Female

EMIGRATION

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

REASON FOR EMIGRATION

Other reasons 2.1%

Minors to join family members 2.6%Family

reasons2.1%

Study 2.3%

Looking for a job

91.0%

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

HOST COUNTRY

USA91.4%

Mexico 2.2

Canada0.2%

Spain2.1%

ROW2.1%

Central America

1.9%

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

CURRENT VISA STATUS

62.3

12.2

11.9

5.0

2.7

2.5

1.5

1.1

0.7

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Without visa

TPS

Resident

Refugees

Tourist visa

Worker visa

Naturalized citizen

Student visa

Other

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

REMITTANCES

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

•11.1% of household income•6.8% of GDP, 2000•25.5% of GDP, 2006•CBH: US$ 2.6 billion, 2006•HH receiving remittances: 21%

REMITTANCES

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

Domains of estimation

Households %

Annual average amount

US$

Total 345,126 100.0 2,454

Urban 193,928 56.2 2,550Tegucigalpa 49,236 14.3 2,268San Pedro Sula 30,204 8.8 1,872Other cities 114,487 33.2 2,847

Rural 151,199 43.8 2,331

Remittances (cash and goods) in the last 12 months

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

FREQUENCY

Quaterly 7.0%

Bimonthly

8.2%

From 4 to 6 months

5.2%

From 7 to 11 months

5.3%

Yearly

14.4%

More than12 months

6.4%

Monthly 45.2%

Less thanOne month

8.2%

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

Amount received in the last 12 months

0 5 10 15 20 25

Less than US$100

100 to 200

200 to 500

500 to 1000

1000 to 2000

2000 to 5000

More than US$5000

Percentage of HH

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

RECEPTION CHANNELS

Private companies

39.6%

54.6%

0.5%5.2%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Bank transfers Transfers through Other formal channels

Informalchannels

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

USES OF REMITTANCES

0 20 40 60 80

Other current expenses

Health

Education

Housing

Other expenses

Savings

Investments

Debts payments

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

LESSONS LEARNED

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES SURVEY 2006-2007

LESSONS LEARNED

1. Big demand of information.

2. International consultants help strengthen analytical abilities of the national counterparts.

3. Redefine questions to be less intrusive.

4. Make the public aware of the nature of the survey.

5. The sample of the PHS is not designed for this purpose.

Horacio Lovo P.lovostat@hotmail.com

www.ine-hn.org