277,000 children left without care of parents in Kyrgyzstan due to migration

More than 277,000 children were left without care of their parents in Kyrgyzstan due to labor migration. Such data were obtained during a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), UNICEF reports.
According to UNICEF, the number of children left without parental care has increased by 16 percent over the past four years - from 239,100 in 2014 to 277,500 in 2018.
At least one parent of 12 percent of children lives abroad. The highest rates are in Osh and Jalal-Abad regions (18 percent each), as well as in Batken (14 percent) region. Both mother and father of 4 percent of children live abroad.
About 9 percent of children do not live with any of their biological parents. In the Jalal-Abad region, this figure reaches 14 percent.
The survey covered more than 7,000 households in all regions of Kyrgyzstan, and field studies were conducted in September - November 2018.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was developed by UNICEF in the 1990s as an international household survey program to assist countries in collecting data on a wide range of indicators of the situation of children and women.