The systematic review of children left behind by migrant parents by Gracia Fellmeth and Kelly Rose-Clarke and colleagues in The Lancet included studies from all LMICs, and considered both forced migration and labour migration. Most studies were done in China. 91 of the 111 included studies reported the health outcomes of children residing in rural China, who were left behind when one or both parents moved to urban areas for employment. The authors report that although families might benefit economically from remittances sent back home, migration had few benefits for children who were left behind. Compared with children of non-migrant parents, left-behind children had an increased risk of mental health problems, including depression (risk ratio [RR] 1·52 [95% CI 1·27–1·82]; standardised mean difference [SMD] 0·16 [0·10–0·21]), anxiety (RR 1·85 [1·36–2·53]; SMD 0·18 [0·11–0·26]), and suicidal ideation (RR 1·70 [1·28–2·26]), and nutritional problems such as wasting (RR 1·13 [1·02–1·24]) and stunting (RR 1·12 [1·00–1·26]).
