The 4th International Conference on Population Geographies

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The 4th International Conference on Population
Geographies 12 July 2007, Hong Kong
International marriage migration from rural
Thailand to Germany Satoshi NAKAGAWA,
Kobe University, Japan nakagawa_at_econ.kobe-u.ac.jp
Sekson YONGVANIT, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
sekyon_at_kku.ac.th
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• Background
• Thailand under the migration transition
• Migration Transition
• In terms of international migration, a
  migrants-sending country becomes migrants
  receiving country in accordance with economic
  development
• Thailand post demographic transition
• Demographic Transition
• from high fertility and mortality to low
  fertility and mortality by economic development /
  spread of family planning

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(No Transcript)
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• Background
• Rural development of Northeastern Region
• regional economic disparity is still very
  large, i.e. gross provincial (76 provinces)
  product per capita in 2004, national
  average100, maximum Rayong (703), minimum Non
  Bua Lamphu (16) .
• What kind of possibilities for development?
• invite factories
• invite tourists
• go for work in Bangkok and surrounding
  provinces
• go for work abroad
• go for marriage abroad

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• Research Project three years from 2006
• Migration and rural developments in the
  Northeastern Thailand and Laos
• International labor migration from the NE
  Thailand to abroad (Sukanya)
• International labor migration from rural Laos
  to Thailand (, Nakagawa)
• International marriage migration from the NE
  Thailand to Germany (Sekson, Nakagawa)
• Survey on families left behind in the NE
  Thailand
• Survey on Thai women married in Germany
• Questionnaire Survey, In-depth interview
  

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• Todays Presentation
• Introduction of preliminary results of the
  questionnaire survey on the married Thai women in
  Germany
• Cross-border migration for marriage is a form
  of international migration, which has lately
  drawn considerable attention. The cases between
  males from rich countries and females from
  poor countries are particularly often observed
  and thereby international marriage migration is
  regarded not only as cross-border love romances
  but also as global economic issues.

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• Thailand is one of the most important sending
  countries of brides to wealthier countries.
• According to the previous reports, the
  Northeastern region known as the poorest region
  in Thailand is often pointed out as a major
  origin of the international brides and Germany
  followed by Great Britain and Japan is the most
  popular destination among them.
• Previous studies,
• Piper, Nicola and Roces, Mina eds, Wife or
  Worker? -Asian women and migration, Rowman
  Littlefiled Publishers, 2003.

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• Questionnaire survey outline
• Respondents
• married Thai women ( men) living in Germany.
• found mainly at Thai temples, Thai grocery
  shops
• Place of interview Berlin and South Germany
• Language Thai
• Interviewer two Thai and one Japanese males
• Duration 9 February 5 March, still on going
• Sample 77

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Samples
Thai Average age 40 , ranging 22 to 66 years
old Partner Average age 50, ranging 25 to 73
years old
German Statistics Thais in Germany
Population(2005), 51108 male 7245, female 43863
(2001), 41520 male 6338, female
35182 Average age 35.5 (2006) Average duration of
stay in Germany 9.5 years (2006)
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Religion
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Education
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Were you married before the present Thai/German
partner?
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How many years have you been in Germany?
Average 13 years Newest 1 year Longest
33 years
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How many years have you been married with the
present partner?
Average 10 years Newest 1 year Longest 31
years
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How often do you visit Thailand ?
How long do you stay for your visit to Thailand?
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What kind of problems do you have for your stay
in Germany?
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Which country is more difficult to live?
How do you evaluate your stay in Germany
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Do you intend to return to Thailand in the
future? If yes, why do you think so?

• Yes ----------------------- 62
• No ----------------------- 18
• I do not know, now ---- 20

Yes, because Want to stay with relative
Thailand is my homeland My partner
wants to live in Thailand Do not like
German way of live Too cold in Germany
No, because Very happy in Germany
No relative in Thailand In Germany has
better social status No social insurance
in Thailand
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Reasons for your international marriage
migration, multiple answers
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How much do you send annually to your family in
EURO ?
All the money send per year 244,450 EURO
Average 6,267 EURO / Year / person
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How does your family in Thailand evaluate your
stay in Germany?
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• Conclusions
• Victim or Agent?
• positive evaluation, rather agent than victim
• Wife or Worker?
• large amount of remittance, rather worker
  than wife
• Temporal or Permanent stay?
• strong intention for return
• Remarks
• strong cultural confidence, try to keep their
  way of living
• sampling bias and way of interviews

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• For the next steps
• connect these results with the survey being
  conducted on the family left behind in the NE
  Thailand,
• how their remittance is utilized
• how their family and neighbors evaluate them
  

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at a Thai Food/Grocery Shop in Berlin
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at a Thai Food/Grocery Shop in Berlin
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at a Thai Food/Grocery Shop in Berlin
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at a Thai Temple in Berlin
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at a Thai Temple in Berlin
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at a Thai Temple in Berlin