Immigration, immigrants and subjective wellbeing

The purpose of this report is to review recent research on immigration and subjective well-being, focusing on international research published during the last decade. The review is organised around four questions: 1. Do immigrants achieve a better life, in terms of their experiences and evaluations, after the move to a new country? 2. Do they have the same level of well-being as natives? 3. What explains the differences, if there are any? 4. How does immigration influence the quality of life in the non-immigrant population?

The research we have reviewed has a number of shortcomings, concerning methodology and data. One of the problems is that most studies are based on cross-sectional surveys, which makes it hard to disentangle cause and effect. Longitudinal surveys, following the same persons across time, both those who move and those who stay, are exceedingly rare.

Does immigration lead to higher levels of well-being, among those who move? Conclusions based on the few longitudinal surveys that do exist, find clear indications of improvement, but not for all aspects of well-being. Analysing cross-sectional surveys, the consequences seem to diverge from one country to the next, depending on both which country the immigrants have left, and which country they settle in. As an example, immigrants that move from poorer to richer countries are more satisfied than similar groups in the country they left, while this is not the case among those who moved to a poor country. According to most surveys, immigrants are somewhat less satisfied with life, and more exposed to emotionally negative experiences, than the majority population. That immigrants, on average, also have higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorders and other problems of mental health, adds to the evidence for comparatively low well-being.

The assimilation hypothesis, which assumes that the differences in well-being will become progressively smaller, as immigrants adapt and are integrated in their host society, has received mixed support. Findings concerning second generation immigrants are also quite divergent. That immigrants, on average, are not as happy and satisfied as the majority, have a number of possible causes. Indicators of employment and economic resources reduce or eliminate the well-being gap in some studies. Concerning non-economic factors, there is some limited evidence showing that perceived discrimination and a lack of social support are contributing to the gap. At the macro level, a recent study of immigration to Europe has shown a correlation between attitudes towards immigrants and immigrants life satisfaction, even when controlling for economic characteristics.

Very few studies have investigated the consequences of immigration for the quality of life among natives in the host countries. With this limited evidence base in mind, these studies suggest that the consequences are slightly positive, at least in the short term. The results should be seen as preliminary, as we wait for more research.