Rural-urban migration and household livelihood in the Agona West Municipality, Ghana

Rural-urban migration, a multidimensional phenomenon, is becoming part of the daily reality in Ghana and many other developing countries. For instance, the impact of migration on households whose member(s) migrated is relatively not very clear. A study was therefore undertaken to examine and explain the impact of rural-urban migration on rural migrant’s households’ livelihood in three communities in Agona West Municipality, Ghana. Snowballing technique was used to select and interviewed 121 respondents to obtain information on the motives of migration and the impact of remittances on household livelihoods. Eight male and female heads of households were purposively selected from each village for the focus group discussion. Frequencies, percentages, diagrams and tables were used to explain the data obtained. The study identified two types of households; the migrant and non-migrant households. Also it was observed that males, were often forced to migrate because of their poor living conditions and low educational attainment, the better-off migrant households characterized with higher educational attainment on the other hand, often migrate in order to accumulate more wealth. The better-off migrant households are therefore positively impacted; better access to health-care, more education opportunities, and agriculture than the poor migrant households. The study therefore recommended that government policy on poverty and employment especially for rural areas need to be revisited for better employment opportunities in the rural areas for the young adults and thereby curb the drift to urban areas. Key words: Migrant households, non-migrant households, poor households, better-off households, remittances, socio-economic status, household livelihoods.