How a life in the sun can spell misery: Ex-pats who move to the Med are LESS happy than those who move the other way
When the days get shorter and the weather colder, many of us no doubt envy those who have headed for a new life in the sun.
However, making such a move can actually leave us more miserable, according to research. A study of those who moved to a Mediterranean country found their levels of happiness were lower than those who had headed in the opposite direction.
University of Leicester researchers looked at 256 migrants from Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, France, and 73 from the UK, who relocated to Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus in search of a new life.
The migrants were asked how happy they were on a scale of one to 10 compared with 56,000 people who stayed in the northern countries.
It was revealed that the migrants were less happy, scoring 7.3 out of ten, compared with the average of 7.5.
And the gap was even higher for Brits with migrants four per cent less happy than those back in Blighty.
Dr David Bartram analysed the data to take account of differences between migrants and those who stayed in terms of age, health, income, education, employment and religious beliefs, to make sure these factors did not distort the results.
He said: 'The key finding from the analysis is that people from northern Europe who migrated to southern Europe are less happy than the stayers in northern Europe.'
On average the migrants were found to have higher incomes than the average in their new country, due to higher education levels.
Many previous studies suggest that these factors would result in a higher social status and levels of happiness.
However the paper, which will be presented at the British Sociological Association's annual conference in Leeds on Wednesday revealed that migration can disrupt social ties and make people less happy.
Read more: DailyMail