IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v49y2022i6p1810-1812.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Happiness and international migration – The spatial dimension of a relationship

Author

Listed:
  • Aron Kincses
  • Géza Tóth

Abstract

The relationship between international migration and happiness is evident and has long been studied in international literature ( Brailovskaia et al., 2017 ; Shamsuddin and Katsaiti, 2020 ; William, 2019). In this study, we examine the relationship between countries’ levels of happiness and net migration rates relative to their neighbours. The question arose as to whether high happiness is, in any case, associated with a positive migration balance, and whether an unfavourable happiness situation is associated with high emigration. Are there any countries that deviate somewhat from this simple assumption?

Suggested Citation

  • Aron Kincses & Géza Tóth, 2022. "Happiness and international migration – The spatial dimension of a relationship," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(6), pages 1810-1812, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:49:y:2022:i:6:p:1810-1812
    DOI: 10.1177/23998083221103265
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23998083221103265
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23998083221103265?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Bartram, 2011. "Economic Migration and Happiness: Comparing Immigrants’ and Natives’ Happiness Gains From Income," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 57-76, August.
    2. Mrittika Shamsuddin & Marina-Selini Katsaiti, 2020. "Migration and Happiness: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(8), pages 2931-2955, December.
    3. Linnea Polgreen & Nicole Simpson, 2011. "Happiness and International Migration," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 819-840, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:grz:wpsses:2021-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. William Betz & Nicole Simpson, 2013. "The effects of international migration on the well-being of native populations in Europe," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Artjoms Ivlevs, 2015. "Happy Moves? Assessing the Link between Life Satisfaction and Emigration Intentions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 335-356, August.
    4. Zheng, Xiaodong & Zhou, Yanran, 2025. "Earlier move, greater joy: Migration timing and subjective well-being among rural migrants in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    5. Artjoms Ivlevs, 2014. "Happy moves? Assessing the impact of subjective well-being on the emigration decision," Working Papers 20141402, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    6. Ruohong Cai & Neli Esipova & Michael Oppenheimer & Shuaizhang Feng, 2014. "International migration desires related to subjective well-being," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Mrittika Shamsuddin & Marina-Selini Katsaiti, 2020. "Migration and Happiness: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(8), pages 2931-2955, December.
    8. Phil Lignier & Diane Jarvis & Daniel Grainger & Taha Chaiechi, 2024. "How Selective Mobility, Social and Ecological Influence may Impact Geographic Variations in Life Satisfaction Scores: An Australian Longitudinal Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 803-826, July.
    9. Hung-Hao Chang & Pei-An Liao, 2015. "Are Immigrant Wives Happy in Taiwan? A Look at the Role of Bargaining Power Within the Married Couples," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 295-312, April.
    10. Eleonora Trappolini & Kim Wooseong & Giammarco Alderotti, 2025. "Overqualified, Still Satisfied? Revisiting Job Satisfaction Among Overqualified Migrants," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2025_07, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    11. Irena Kogan & Jing Shen & Manuel Siegert, 2018. "What Makes a Satisfied Immigrant? Host-Country Characteristics and Immigrants’ Life Satisfaction in Eighteen European Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 1783-1809, August.
    12. Silvia Maja Melzer & Ruud J. Muffels, 2012. "Migrant's Pursuit of Happiness: The Impact of Adaption, Social Comparison and Relative Deprivation; Evidence from a 'Natural' Experiment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 448, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    13. Christopher Mackie & Conal Smith, 2015. "Conceptualizing Subjective Well-Being And Its Many Dimensions – Implications For Data Collection In Official Statistics And For Policy Relevance," Statistics in Transition New Series, Polish Statistical Association, vol. 16(3), pages 335-372, September.
    14. Isilda Mara & Michael Landesmann, 2013. "Do I stay because I am happy or am I happy because I stay? Life satisfaction in migration, and the decision to stay permanently, return and out-migrate," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013008, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    15. Nikolova, Milena & Graham, Carol, 2015. "In transit: The well-being of migrants from transition and post-transition countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 164-186.
    16. Zhenxiang Chen, 2025. "From Identity Integration to Civic Integration: A Multidimensional Framework of Integration to Unveil Pathways to Civic Engagement Through the Global Perspective," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 25-51, March.
    17. John F. Helliwell & Aneta Bonikowska & Hugh Shiplett, 2016. "Migration as a Test of the Happiness Set Point Hypothesis: Evidence from Immigration to Canada," NBER Working Papers 22601, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Maria Gabriella Campolo & Antonino Di Pino Incognito, 2024. "How perceived well-being determinants differ for immigrants and natives in Italy," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 2499-2522, June.
    19. Nicole B. Simpson, 2022. "Demographic and economic determinants of migration," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 373-373, July.
    20. Stefan Gruber & Gregor Sand, 2022. "Does Migration Pay Off in Later Life? Income and Subjective Well-Being of Older Migrants in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 969-988, April.
    21. Fabio Sabatini, 2011. "Can a click buy a little happiness? The impact of business-to-consumer e-commerce on subjective well-being," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2011_12, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:49:y:2022:i:6:p:1810-1812. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.