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Life satisfaction of migrants, stayers and returnees: reaping the fruits of migration in old age?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2016

HELEN BAYKARA-KRUMME  and
LUCINDA PLATT
HELEN BAYKARA-KRUMME*
Affiliation:
Institute for Sociology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany.
LUCINDA PLATT
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Helen Baykara-Krumme, Technische Universität Chemnitz, Institut für Soziologie, Thüringer Weg 9, D-09126 Chemnitz, Germany E-mail: helen.baykara@soziologie.tu-chemnitz.de
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Abstract

This paper evaluates the effects of migration on life satisfaction in later life. We compare the life satisfaction of older migrants with that of non-migrants and return migrants of a similar age and originating from the same regions in Turkey. Turks constitute one of the largest migrant groups in Europe, and the growing population of older Turkish migrants display greater risks of loneliness and material disadvantage compared to native-born populations in Europe. However, compared to their non-migrant peers from the country of origin, older migrants may experience gains from migration that are reflected in their life satisfaction. Using the 2000 Families Study, a large survey of Turkish migrants from the peak labour migration period and their non-migrant comparators, we investigate whether life satisfaction of migrants and stayers differs and the possible causes of any differences. We find that both migrants and return migrants experience higher life satisfaction in old age than stayers. However, the gap cannot be explained by the classical determinants of life satisfaction such as income, health, partner and friends, or religiosity, nor by the better outcomes of the migrants’ children. We discuss possible reasons for this migration satisfaction advantage.

Keywords

life satisfactionmigrationelderly migrantsreturn migrantsTurkey
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , April 2018 , pp. 721 - 745
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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