Paper short abstract:

Climate changes are increasing rural abandon and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Families need to invent solutions to deal with this reality. Labor migration is an obvious answer and remittances are highly relevant in this context. This study is based on data collected in Mozambique and Angola.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper we intend to underline some general characteristics of the internal labor migration occurring in some sub-Saharan contexts.

Our analysis pays particular attention to climate changes and human desertification, and the strategies families invent to find the best solutions to cope with rural abandon and poverty. It deals with environment issues, family size, production, family networks and expectations of life improvement. It also deals with the remittances issue, which is still highly relevant, and which continues to interest scientists from different fields.

The analysis pays particular attention to the reasons why people decide to leave and go to the cities looking for a job.

The study is based on data collected from field research in Mozambique and Angola and on the review of some recent literature on the subject.