An analysis of the quality of life of migrants in Gauteng, a province of South Africa

Abstract

Gauteng, the economic centre of South Africa, attracts many migrants from across the African continent and other regions in South Africa: almost 44% of the total population are migrants. In this study, a composite index is constructed and the quality of life of cross-border, internal migrants and the native population of Gauteng is compared. This study uses the method of Nicoletti et al. (2009) to construct the composite index, and adapts it to be suitable for the analysis of categorical data. Furthermore, this study compares the means of the quality of life scores of the different groups using ANOVA. The results of the study show that although there are statistically significant differences between the mean quality of life scores of the groups, the effect size approaches zero. This suggests that migrants and non-migrants experience almost equal levels of quality of life in Gauteng. This result contradicts findings in existing literature that measures well-being.