Determination of the life satisfaction of migrants in their host countries: A case study of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Turkey

This study investigated the life satisfaction of Sub-Saharan African migrants living in Turkey. The study was also intended to ascertain the motivation of migrants for their migrations as well as their reason for choosing Turkey as a destination country. In order to execute this research, 489 participants comprising of 286 males and 206 females were randomly sampled from 8 cities in Turkey for this study. The study employed the use of semi-structured in-depth interviews and questionnaires to elicit responses on various issues of interest from the participants. The results of data analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 20 indicated great level of consistency of the research questionnaire used (SWLS) with Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.92. Overall, 68.10% of the respondents reported various degrees of satisfaction with their lives. 8.59% of the respondents were neutral and 23.32% of respondents reported either being slightly dissatisfied, dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied. The ratio of [t (487) = 0.0115, p < 0.05] from the data analysis also shows that male participants were significantly more satisfied with their lives in comparison with their female counterparts. Interviews with migrants revealed different motivations for their migration including, and these can be thematically summarized to include access to quality education, economic opportunities, conflict and natural disaster and adventure. Also, regarding reasons for choosing Turkey as a destination country, factors like Turkey's strategic location and less stressful visa acquisition procedures, level of economic development and industrialization, the healthy and mutual relationship between Turkey and the continent of Africa, the quality of education in the country and family reunion were cited by participants to have informed their decision to migrate to Turkey.