| The study on rural-to-urban migration and its effect on food consumption and nutritional status of children under five years of age was carried out in 1989-90 in The Gambia.;The sample of 407 households was selected, and they were classified in four groups, based on their migration history: rural, short-term and long-term migrants (under and over 3 yrs in the urban area) and urban born households. Data on household demographics, employment, incomes, expenditures, food consumption and nutritional status of children was collected, and the importance of those factors on calorie consumption and nutritional status of children under five years of age in the households of different migration histories was analyzed using analysis of variance and multivariate analysis.;This study suggests that rural-to-urban migration in the Gambia is selective of nature, for the recent migrant households are younger and better educated. They also have the highest incomes, and the total amount of calories consumed was significantly higher in recent migrant households than in all the three other household groups. This group was selected on the basis of having staying in the urban area three years or less, but the households of this group seem to have characteristics, which may not be related to migration. Consequently, the result that this group performed the best economically, and that it was also reflected in their food consumption patterns, may not be due only to migration.;The purpose of this study was (a) to assess the influence of rural-urban migration on household food acquisition and food consumption patterns and to assess the nutritional status of migrated urban populations as compared with both the nutritional status of populations from areas of origin and nutritional status of urban-born populations and (b) to find out factors which directly or indirectly affect household food acquisition and consumption behavior among migrated population and how they are related to the length of residence in urban areas. |
