Identifying the changes in the quality of life of southern African development community (SADC) migrants in South Africa from 2001 TO 2011

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Worldwide people migrate to improve their quality of life (QOL) and there are two frequently asked questions about these migrants. Are these migrants satisfied with their decision to migrate, and has this move resulted in an improved QOL? (Olgiati et al. 2012). Various factors are at play when answering these questions. This article determines if the QOL of Southern African Development Community (SADC) migrants in South Africa and the provinces has improved or deteriorated from 2001 to 2011. Data was extracted from Census unit records from Super-Cross and variables were grouped into socio-demographic, socio-economic characteristics, housing conditions, ownership of household goods and service-delivery dimensions of QOL. The study firstly used Excel to calculate percentages and create figures to compare the 2001 and 2011 socio-demographic profile results. Secondly percentages were standardised by subtracting the mean and dividing by the standard deviation and a factor analysis was performed on the socio-economic, housing conditions, ownership of household goods and service-delivery variables to determine the most important variables influencing the QOL of SADC migrants. Lastly, a mixed-model repeated-measures ANOVA with province and year as fixed effects, and municipalities as random effect was calculated to determine if statistically significant changes occurred in South Africa and the provinces from 2001 to 2011. Findings show an improvement in the socio-economic, ownership of household goods and service-delivery dimensions of QOL for SADC migrants in South Africa from 2001 to 2011, while their housing conditions deteriorated. The Western Cape is the only province where SADC migrants experienced an exceptional deterioration of most QOL dimensions (ownership of household goods, housing conditions and service delivery). Significant policy implications are discussed.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University