The aim of the report is to gain more knowledge on the issues and a better understanding of migrants' well-being and public attitudes towards migration in Sweden, the Nordic countries and Europe. To answer these questions, data from the Gallup World Poll (GWP) for the period 2016-2023 are used.
Some overall conclusions and recommendations
The report shows that migrants' self-assessed well-being is high in Sweden compared to other countries in Europe. Well-being provides a picture of how people evaluate their current life, and can be seen as a measure of how satisfied they are with life. Public attitudes towards migration, as measured by the Gallup Migration Acceptance Index, are also more positive in Sweden than in other European countries. The report shows that there is a positive correlation between migrants' well-being and public attitudes towards migration, with Sweden and the other Nordic countries among those with both high levels of well-being for migrants and high levels of acceptance of migrants. In contrast, countries with a low level of acceptance of migrants are characterised by a low average level of well-being for migrants.
Migrants are a selected group, but also a heterogeneous group.
There are differences in group composition and differences in countries' regulatory frameworks, institutions and welfare systems, etc. that affect the results. A general pattern that nevertheless emerges is that new arrivals tend to have a higher degree of confidence in the future. These are generally quite complex changes in well-being when arriving in a new country; which country you come from and which country you migrate to, as well as various life events have an impact. Overall, we see indications that the well-being of migrants tends to converge towards that of the native population in countries where acceptance of migrants is high. Thus, the attitudes of the population can play a crucial role in how well migrants integrate into society, where a high degree of acceptance and positive attitudes towards migration can facilitate adaptation and improve one's quality of life. By taking a migrant's perspective, we hope that the report can contribute to broadening the existing knowledge base on migration and integration.
About the authors
Maria Cheung, PhD in Economics. Matz Dahlberg, Professor of Economics, Institute for Housing and Urban Research (IBF) and Department of Economics, Uppsala University. Hyrije Hasani, BA in Economics.
The report was published the 19th of September 2024.
Photogragh: Xin via Unsplash.
