The happiness of international migrants: A review of research findings

International migration that is motivated by the striving for a better life is growing explosively. Migrants and policymakers would benefit from knowing whether migrants’ outcomes reflect their aims and expectations. Quantitative research that examines the happiness of migrants has been performed in different academic disciplines (e.g. psychology, sociology, and economics). The spread of research over various disciplines has restricted researchers from reaching overall conclusions on the following issues: (1) do migrants become happier? and (2) do migrants become as happy as ‘natives’ in the host country? This paper integrates the interdisciplinary findings on these questions in a systematic review of the research findings (44 studies; migrant sample > 70,000). In answer to the first question, the review reveals that migrants can become happier by migrating but it strongly depends on the specific migration stream. In answer to the second question, migrants typically did not reach similar levels of happiness to those of natives. Recommendations for future research are provided.