The inflow of foreign remittances boosts economic growth, decreases poverty, increases the income level of the remittance recipient economy, improves the health facilities, lifts the quality of education and enhances the investment opportunities (Siddique, 2012). Remittance inflow to Pakistan been provided a significant source for foreign exchange reserves from 1970-2012. Pakistan receives a substantial quantity of foreign reserves through foreign remittances. These inflows to the country are contributing considerably to economic growth, welfare, current account and balance of payment status (Javid, 2012).

The remittances inflow upturned sharply to Pakistan after the year 2000 from the amount of US$1075 to US$ 6000 million in the period of 2000 to 2008 (World Bank, 2015). In a period of five years (i.e. 2011-2015) Pakistan received US$ 15 billion of remittances average per year. The contribution of foreign remittances to GDP was about 5% for a time period of 1975-2015, it has significant importancefor the Pakistan economy (World Bank, 2015). The quantity of oversees emigrants has been increasing over the period: nearly 3 million of the labor force have migrated during the period 1970-2002 and this figure rose in the year 2015 up to 9 million (BEOE, 2015). The upturn in overseas migrant numbers increases the size of remittances. This effective increase in foreign remittances contributes to foreign exchange reserves, exchange rate stabilization, declines in poverty, and decreases the current account deficit (Iqbal, 2010).

The most important impact of foreign remittances is to support the consumption needs of migrant families. This is the micro-level impact of foreign remittances, which improves income strength of remittances receiving households and alleviates poverty at the household level. It is argued that a 25% portion of foreign remittances is utilized for food, health and education expenditures and almost 30% share of remittances is used for the repayments of loans, marriages, and durable goods. A major share, almost 40% of incoming remittances is used for real estate

businesses, saving and investment. All other sectors like agriculture, services, and industrial sectors are positively affected (Rehman, 2017).

Cross country migration of labor improves cultural and social diversity in various regions. People migrate from one country to another for decent employment opportunities, higher income earnings and for the betterment of their social life. Being a developing country, Pakistan faces several problems in which the most important are the poverty level, unemployment rate, lack of capital, the weak balance of payments position, the high growth rate of population and debt burden. Foreign migration shows a dynamic role in contributing to addressing these difficulties to some amount and reduces the burden on the whole economy.

The World Bank (WB) report (WB, 2015) considers remittances as one of the stable and essential sources for less developed countries. Foreign remittances provide a huge amount of foreign reserves for developing nations, which is helpful in attaining a sustainable balance of payments position. The wider market of foreign remittances affects both high and low level of income countries. The higher wage rate and higher per capita income of rich countries is five times greater than that of countries with low income. This difference in average wage rate attracts migrants from low-income countries. Migrants earn higher wages in these industrialized rich countries and remit their wages to home countries. This inflow of remittances to home countries enhance wealth and consumption power.

Global migration has increased speedily in the period of the last 15 years (United Nations, 2016). In the year 2001, 173 million individuals migrated from one country to another. This quantity of migrants enlarged to 191 million in the year 2005 and further increased to 222 million in 2010. Finally, this figure extended to 244 million in the year 2015. International immigration grew at a rate of 2% per year from 2000 to 2005. This rate increased to 3% per year during the period of 2005 to 2010. However, from 2010 to 2015 the growth rate of international migration decreased to 1.9 % per year. A major share of almost 70% of the total international migration is accommodated by rich countries (UN, 2016).

The study area of this research study also has significant importance concerning remittances and migrant numbers. District Dir Lower is registered as one of the highest districts in Pakistan in respect of the volume of incoming remittances and migrant numbers. The total registered Pakistani migrant workers with (BEOE) from 1981-2018 are about 10 million. District Lowe Dir is on the top of the list in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts, which contributed 0.352 million (i.e. 352503) migrants to the country directory and followed by Mardan (0.213975) million and Peshawar (0.205453). Additionally, in Pakistan, Lower Dir is ranked 5^th largest migrants producing district after Karachi (0.531109), Sialkot (0.443756), Lahore (0.385801) and Rawalpindi (0.374992) respectively in the year 2018 (BEOE, 2018).

After close analysis of existing literature, there are some research studies at local levels and national levels that have worked in different directions and different aspects of foreign migration. But this research study differentiates the existing literature with respect to sample size, comprehensive and up to date review of literature, descriptive statistics, and empirical analysis. We have used three different econometric models (OLS, Logit & Probit) for regression analysis. This is the first time for District Lower Dir to which is considered for a comprehensive research study in one of the top migrant producing districts.

This paper is organized as follows. In section 2 the relevant literature review are discussed, Section 3 describes the methodology and Section 4 describes the results. Finally, Section 5 concludes this research work and also gives policy implication.

The review of literature is organized on the basss of progressive views of investigators related to remittances and its impact on the quality of life. As we are focusing on two indicators (i.e. education and health) of quality of life, we analyzed the literature where the impact of remittances on these two indicators has been studied. The researchers have contended that inflows of remittances have a significant positive contribution to the household quality of life, especially on children's school enrollment and on the health status of the household.

Quartey (2006) opined that foreign remittance increased the welfare of the family considerably. It was found, that a 1% increase in remittance leads to contribute 0.23% to the welfare of the family. Remittance is the most important external financial source which is contributing well during crises and shocks. In addition, the educational level of the family head was positively associated with welfare. On the contrary, the age status of the household head was negatively related to household welfare. Similarly, household size had a negative effect on household welfare due to lower per capita household income.

Rossi (2008) argued that remittances increased school attendance for boys and girls of 11 to 14 years of age. However, for older members of the household, he found no significant relationship. In addition, migration had a progressive influence on health standing. Migration improves the income level of the household, which allows them to spend more on health facilities.

Siddiqui (2012) concluded that global migration alleviated poverty for a shorter period of time. The consumption part of health facilities and education was high in total foreign remittances. Migration increased charity and alleviated the poverty of the community. In order to support the claim that in a short period of time global migration has decreased the incidence of poverty at the country level, evidence was specified from Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

The research methodology is explained in this section. Lower Dir district has been considered for the research study. This study uses a primary source of data and through the questionnaire the data are collected. The sample size of four hundred three (403) households is used for this research study, which is visited during the years 2013 and 2014. Two different econometric models (linear and nonlinear) are considered for regression analysis.

A method of the primary data source is adopted for this research work with the help of a total sample size of 403 households. An equal share is given to both of the household the type i.e. remittance recipient families and non-recipient families in total sample size. In order to get the relevant information, 403 households were investigated through a questionnaire in the year 2014. Total 35 villages from seven tehsils are considered for the survey. Stratified random sampling method has been used for both types of families on the bases of their presence.

The existing literature and model are adopted for this study. The model which are already used for remittances or migration and its relationship with household welfare by (Mekenzie, 2007), (Orbeta, 2008) and (Mughal, 2010).

Y_i = β₀ + β₁ REM + β₃ X_i + ε_i

Where the two dependent variables that are the family's educational and health status represented by Y_i, REM represents a household's remittances (i.e. a family receive remittance or not), and X_i represents the list of other control variables that are family income, income earners in household, agriculture & livestock details, parents education level, children 5 to 18 years old, family size and monthly food consumption and ε_i is the error terms.

The OLS (ordinary least squares) model is used for education. OLS is the best option because the relationship between the variables is linear and it is simple in nature and justifies the OLS properties. The household health has a binary (0, 1) response, which shows that a family can access the needs of health care or not. A non-linear relationship and binary response of the dependent variable Logit and Probit regression technique is adopted for family health status.

The result analysis is divided into two steps that are summary statistics and empirical analysis.

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Results are obtained from the regression of ordinary least square (OLS) and Logit and Probit models. Thiel's Benchmark Criterion is used for regression analysis. According to this technique, all the variables which are insignificant are dropped one by one and the model is re-estimated. This estimation procedure is called a general approach to specific. The following section explains the interpretation of the results obtained from OLS and Logit and Probit models.

Table 2 describes the specific model which is regressed for monthly educational expenditures. Dependent variables are measured as household type i.e. a family receives remittance or not, monthly income, educational level of parents and size of household. We have included five dummy variables for parental education. The base category is no formal education, other dummies are, primary, SSC, HSSC, graduation, and master.

The variable of our interest is household type (HHT) the coefficient of this variable is positive and significant. It shows foreign remittances is positively related to educational expenses of the family. In other words, a household that received foreign remittances make more expenditures for education with respect to non-receiving. The coefficient of monthly income is also significant and positive, which shows that monthly income of household increases the educational expenses.

Table 5 presents results of Logit and Probit models where the dependent variable is household health status. The models include household type, monthly income, parent's education, family size, and food consumption as independent variables. Parental education level is divided into three categories that are primary education, SSC & HSSC educational level, and graduation & master's level.

The dependent variable in our equation is household health status which is a dummy having value one and zero. Therefore, we estimated the probit and logit models. Marginal effects of independent variables on household health status are given in table 4.2.2. Results obtained from both models are almost the same.

In this study, we have examined the effects of remittances on household welfare in the context of educational and health progress of household. The results summarize that remittances contribute positively and significantly to education. Furthermore, remittances enhance a family's income and a substantial share of remittances is utilized for educational expenses. We further conclude that households receiving foreign remittances invest more in education as related to non-recipient families. These results lead us to conclude that higher-income households allocate more expenditure to education. Moreover, school enrollment of children is significantly associated with foreign remittances. Some control variables like total monthly income andparental education also positively and significantly affect education.

This study also reveals that remittances bring improvement in the health status of a household, if a family receives remittance then its probability of fulfilling basic health care needs rises. We opined that remittances recipient families have a considerably greater probability of fulfillment of their healthcare needs than non-receiving families. This clearly shows that foreign remittances of the family play a very crucial role in the attainment of a good health position. Other control variables like monthly household income and parental education also significantly affect the health status of a household. On the other hand, family size was negatively associated with health status. When the size of a household increases the household health status start to decline.

The research study reveals that remittances considerably improved the quality of life. In order to increase the benefits of income remittances, some policy implications are given. Our research study reveals that foreign remittances positively affect education. Therefore, the government should implement policies which ensure the provision of better formal education to the youth. In order to produce a more skilled worker, the government should focus on technical education as well. Better formal education increases the skill level, capability, and productivity. If workers who go abroad are well educated and skilled then they will be more likely to get well-paid jobs. Consequently, they will remit more foreign currency and will hold better status in the host and country of origin. On the other hand, it is also analyzed that remittances contributed positively to health. As a policy, the authority should provide better health facilities to the people. This will contribute positively to producing a healthy workforce, which is the basic need for development.