Literacy and formal education. People who migrate from rural areas to cities usually are more literate and better educated than other rural residents (174, 201). This is true of both men and women but especially of men (104). On average, however, rural-to-urban migrants are less literate and less educated than other urban residents (27, 239,272). This fact reflects the tendency everywhere for schools to be concentrated in urban areas. Also, because international migrants (not including refugees) tend to seek new homes in more developed countries, they often have less education than the people in the countries to which they migrate (345).

DHS data for 22 countries show that in all but one country—Niger—literacy is lower among rural-to-urban migrant women of reproductive age than among female urban nonmigrants in the same age range. (The DHS data report current status rather than status at time of migration.) In Cameroon and Haiti, for example, nearly half of migrant women are illiterate compared with about one-quarter of nonmigrant urban women. In Pakistan nearly 80% of migrant women are illiterate compared with less than half of urban nonmigrant women (see Figure 5).

In some countries these differences are small, however. In Colombia, Kenya, and the Philippines, almost all urban women of reproductive age, whether migrants or not, can read. Only in Niger is illiteracy common among rural-to-urban migrants and urban nonmigrants alike.

Far more nonmigrant women of reproductive age than rural-to-urban migrant women have a secondary school education, DHS data show. In Bolivia over 60% of nonmigrant women have a secondary education compared with under 25% of migrant women. In Morocco the comparable statistics are about 40% for nonmigrants versus about 10% for migrants; in the Philippines, 80% compared with 60%; and in Kenya, about 50% compared with 40%. These differences reflect the fact that most adult migrants grew up in the countryside, where there are fewer secondary schools than in the cities, and where few women have an opportunity to obtain more than a primary education.

Educational status affects reproductive health status in several important ways. The more educated a person, the more likely she or he is to marry late (106, 192), to know about reproductive health services and their location (106, 174), to want fewer children (144, 192), to use contraception, and thus to have lower fertility (106, 192, 201, 245, 248). Reflecting these patterns, female rural-to-urban migrants with more education are less likely than migrants with little or no schooling to want large families, more likely to use contraception, and more likely to have lower fertility, according to DHS data.

Living standards. The low living standards of migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons are one of the most critical reasons for their relatively poor health status. Many rural-to-urban migrants—although not all, of course—have low living standards compared with other urban residents (27, 345). In countries studied with DHS data, rural-to-urban migrants report fewer household possessions and amenities, such as refrigerators and toilets, than urban nonmigrants. They were more likely to live in houses with dirt floors.

Migrants make up widely varying percentages of the urban poor among 20 countries studied, from only 7% in Nigeria to 43% in Bolivia:*

Migrant women hold even lower-status jobs than migrant men and are more likely to work in the informal sector of the economy (104, 239). In developing countries women typically have a narrower range of job opportunities and are most often found in assembly industries such as garment manufacturing and in domestic service (63). Some have little choice but to become sex workers (227).