Migration in the Rural Region of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam – Social Issues Need to Be Considered

Abstract

The article will describe an overall picture of the migration process, the change in the population structure, the change in the division of labor in the family, the change in the traditional role of emigrating women and the social problems arising from migration in the rural areas in the Mekong Delta both spatially and temporally over the past decade. With the research methods such as the analysis of previous related research reports and the combination of qualitative research methods through in-depth interviews, the article will clarify the problems arising in the places of out-migration of workers to which the previous studies have not really been interested. The research results show that the causes of the change in the population structure in the Mekong Delta region are the process of industrialization and modernization of the country along with the partial impacts of climate change such as the loss of housing due to landslides and the reduction of agricultural land to serve the urban and industrial development. These have adversely affected the economic life of a part of people in rural areas in the Mekong Delta and created a push to force the unemployed workers in rural areas to leave their hometowns in search of new sources of livelihood, especially the female workers. This impact has changed the population structure in the rural families and led to some social problems such as the change in the division of labor in families with migrant women, which increased the family burden and the lack of love and care for the elderly and children who stay at home.

Keywords: migrant women, population, migrant labor, the elderly, children, livelihood.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.60.6