The Life Satisfaction of Immigrants in Canada: Does Time Since Arrival Matter more than Income?

Abstract

The subjective life satisfaction of individuals reveals valuable information about the overall well-being of a society. Furthermore, large international migration flows have led to the importance of studying the life satisfaction of immigrants within host countries, including Canada. This study uses secondary data from the 2013 Canadian General Social Survey, Cycle 27, to assess the life satisfaction of immigrants in Canada compared to Canadian-born individuals, and to determine the overall impact of immigrants’ year of arrival. Using bivariate and multivariate statistical models, the results reveal that the life satisfaction of immigrants does not significantly differ from the Canadian-born population, and that year of arrival has no significant effect. Income, however, seems to be a more important determinant of immigrants’ life satisfaction in Canada.