Populations in slums are happier than rural populations: The case of Mumbai

Thierry Yerema Coulibaly and Shunsuke Managi

Land Use Policy, 2022, vol. 122, issue C

Abstract: In developing countries, research found that rural populations express levels of well-being lower than that of urban populations. However, previous investigations do not compare subjective well-being (SWB) between informal urban settlements, also known as slums, and rural areas despite the large migrations occurring between these two areas. The absence of surveys on SWB targeting slum areas impedes this type of investigation. Thus, this study aims to understand whether rural populations in developing countries have SWB different from those in urban areas’ informal settlements. We use the results of an original questionnaire-based survey focusing on Greater Mumbai’s slums and rural areas for this purpose. We also investigate whether the characteristics of respondents determined by their socioeconomic profiles, social capital, and economic situations in their area of residence explain the difference in SWB between areas. Our results show that populations in slums have, on average, happiness and life satisfaction higher than that of rural populations. Higher levels of happiness are linked to higher social trust and satisfaction with one’s community, while higher satisfaction with life is linked to higher socioeconomic profiles in slums. Issues related to this difference in SWB and policy implications are discussed.

Keywords: Informal settlements; Rural areas; Subjective Well-being; Urban-Rural Happiness Gradient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837722003684
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:122:y:2022:i:c:s0264837722003684

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106341

Access Statistics for this article

Land Use Policy is currently edited by Jaap Zevenbergen

More articles in Land Use Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joice Jiang ().