DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38846
title: Bangladesh Environment and Migration Survey (BEMS), 2019
title: Archival Version

description: The Bangladesh Environment and Migration Survey (BEMS) collects detailed retrospective information about migration trips in southwest Bangladesh, including the first, last, and second-to-last to internal destinations, India, and other international destinations. BEMS collects information about the year, origin, destination, and duration of all trips. Furthermore, BEMS includes information on migration and livelihood histories, socioeconomic conditions, agricultural resources and practices, disasters and perceptions about environment, and self-reported health. Dataset 1 is a household-level file with information about household composition, economic and migratory activity of household members, land ownership/usage, business ownership, household environmental perceptions, environmental conditions, agricultural activities, and physical and psychological health/well-being of household members. Dataset 2 is an individual-level file containing details of internal and international migration trips, as well as measures of economic and social activity during those trips. It also contains information provided by household heads, spouses, and other migrants in the household. Dataset 3 is an individual-level data file that provides general demographic information and brief migration history for each member of a surveyed household. It also includes health information for the head of household and spouse.
description: The purpose of the Bangladesh Environment and Migration Survey (BEMS) is to understand patterns and processes of contemporary internal and international migration in Bangladesh. The project derives from a multi-disciplinary research effort that will generate data on the characteristics and behavior of Bangladeshi migrants and non-migrants and the communities in which they live, and examine whether and how environmental stressors (e.g., salinity, riverbank erosion) affect patterns of migration in this region.
description: The household ethnosurvey is administered to self-identified household heads and spouses in randomly selected households. After gathering social, demographic, and economic information on households and their members, interviewers will collect basic information on each person's first, 2nd to last, and last (or most recent) internal and international migration trips. From household heads and spouses, they will compile migration histories and administer a detailed series of questions about a selection of these trips, focusing on economic livelihoods, methods of moving, connections to other migrants, and use of health and school services. In addition to detailed migration histories, the BEMS will collect information about household wealth, physical conditions of households and communities, and perceptions of environmental conditions. It will also gather some self-reported health information about household members, such as recent illnesses, use of health services, height and weight, and diet.
description: The BEMS is closely modeled on the sampling design and ethnosurvey used in the Mexican Migration Project. The BEMS data were collected in 20 research sites from a random sample of 200 households in each site in 2019. BEMS data include a total of 4,000 households in communities broadly covering the southwest region of Bangladesh.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Household-Level Data DS2: Individual-Level Migration Data DS3: Individual-Level Demographic Data
description: Households in southwest Bangladesh. Smallest Geographic Unit: Administrative region
description: For more information about this study, please visit the ISEE Bangladesh project website.