Urbanization and Subjective Well-Being in China: Differences between Urban, Migrant, and Rural Populations

Over the past decades, China has witnessed a fast growth in urbanization promoted by massive flows of rural-to-urban migration. This study investigates the association between urbanization and the subjective well-being of migrant, rural, and urban populations, and also examines how urbanization affects the rural-urban difference in SWB. Using nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies in 2010, this study finds that urbanization is in general related to the reduced life satisfaction among respondents. Rural residents and migrants are more vulnerable to this negative influence of urbanization than urbanities. Conversely, urbanization is associated with an increase in respondents’ self-reported happiness, a pattern more pronounced among urban residents and migrants. Further analyses suggest that the gap in life satisfaction between urban and migrant (or rural) population tends to narrow in more urbanized counties. On the other hand, as urbanization increases, the happiness gap between urban and migrant population appears to decrease while the gap between rural and migrant population tends to widen. We provide some speculations for the patterns.