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Migration and Remittances

Remittances have typically been an important source of income for many Yemeni households, particularly for those in rural areas (van de Walle, 2002). Table 15 examines migration and remittances over the previous 12 months by sector and gender of the head for 2014. Nationally, 8 percent of Yemeni households in 2014 had at least one household member who migrated abroad, with these households reporting on average 1.3 members who migrated abroad. During the same period, 4 percent had the same average number of returnees. Both rural (10 percent), and FHHs (19 percent) were more likely to have a family member who had migrated outside Yemen. Across all types of households, the number of family members within a household who had migrated abroad was larger on average than the number of persons who had returned, suggesting a net outflow of migrants. Rural and FHHs were more likely to receive remittances both from within and outside Yemen and were less likely to send them relative to urban and MHHs, respectively. For FHHs, remittances made up a considerable share of their total consumption—remittances received from outside Yemen represented 46 percent of total household expenditures, with the vast majority of remittances (93 percent) coming from a spouse or children. Another 24 percent of total expenditures for FHHs was derived from transfers within Yemen, with 66 percent of these transfers coming from a spouse or children. For rural households, remittances from abroad and internally accounted for 34 percent and 13 percent of total expenditures, respectively. Remittances from relatives abroad were by far the largest source of private transfers.

Table 5: Descriptive statistics for migration and remittances by sector and gender of head, 2014

	Sector		Gender of household head
	Rural	Urban	Male	Female	National
Migration
Someone migrated outside Yemen	0.095	0.06	0.075	0.193	0.084
Number of persons migrated	1.231	1.536	1.316	1.206	1.296
Someone returned from outside Yemen	0.047	0.017	0.039	0.019	0.038
Number of persons returned	1.205	1.434	1.246	1.022	1.237