Immigrants to this country are generally happier than the folks they left behind in their ancestral nations, but most diaspora communities report they are less satisfied with life here than their Canadian-born peers, according to a study just released by Statistics Canada. The study found that newcomers from Colombia are the only group less happy than the population of their home country, while those from the Netherlands and New Zealand show little improvement. Another set of outliers are immigrant communities from Nigeria, Italy and Mexico, who unlike other immigrant groups are, in fact, happier than the Canadian-born. Not to be confused with the Bhutan-inspired Gross National Happiness or the Happy Planet Index, this latest study is the first anywhere in the world that tracks happiness – or “life satisfaction” as the researchers prefer to call it – as immigrants move from one set of socio-economic conditions to the Canadian reality. (Happiness could be viewed as more transient and fleeting.) While there are any number of studies of immigration from an economic standpoint, this one looks at the movement of people as a quality-of-life choice: one at least partly motivated by the pursuit of happiness. “Life satisfaction among recent immigrants in Canada: Comparisons with source-country populations and the Canadian-born” uses data collected by previous surveys in Canada and 43 other countries that have large diaspora communities in Canada (“source countries”). The surveys asked all Canadian respondents, both newcomers and native-born, the same question: Using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 means “Very dissatisfied” and 10 means “Very satisfied,” how do you feel about your life as a whole right now? Overseas, the question varied slightly: All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? The results, therefore, are based on individual perceptions or “self-reporting,” rather than any kind of objective measure. Those who responded to the surveys were not making comparisons themselves. The study, conducted by three researchers at Statscan, Kristyn Frank, Feng Hou and Grant Schellenberg, covered immigrants who have been in Canada for less than 10 years. However, the team also analyzed data sets for those who have been in Canada for less than 20 years and found their results remained more or less consistent. The team of Statscan researchers found that except for newcomers from three nations – Colombia, the Netherlands and New Zealand (all fairly small contributors to Canada’s immigrant population) – had happiness scores that were lower than citizens of the countries they left behind. Here is a summary: Immigrants from Colombia had life satisfaction levels that were significantly lower than their source-country population (0.46 points lower). Immigrants from the Netherlands and New Zealand also had lower life satisfaction levels than their source country populations, but these differences were not statistically significant. Immigrant groups with life satisfaction scores similar to their source-country populations were Australia (no difference), Mexico (difference of 0.05 points), Brazil (difference of 0.22 points), United Kingdom (difference of 0.4 points), and China (difference of 0.45 points). Two other major contributors of immigrants were also in this moderately-happier range: India (1.73) and the Philippines (1.01). Immigrant satisfaction levels well above home nations: The following immigrant groups had the largest life satisfaction differences when compared to their source-country populations: Pakistan (2.61 points higher), Ukraine (2.64 points higher), Iraq (2.65 points higher), and Zimbabwe (3.53 points higher). All of these results were statistically significant differences. Given that there are vast differences between Canada and some of the nations being compared, the researchers factor in economic development (using GDP data from the World Bank) and the prevalence of civil liberties (tracked by Freedom House) before arriving at the final scores. In e-mailed comments to New Canadian Media, Dr. Frank, a senior research analyst, said raw scores are “adjusted” using a statistical method called regression analysis. Interestingly, economic differences far outweighed the influence of civil liberties (freedom of expression, assembly, association, education and religion) in determining the final happiness score. “The regression results indicate that when we control for both source-country GDP and civil liberty, only the effect of source-country GDP is statistically significant.