Situated in the unique Chinese context of rapid urbanization and mass migration, this study draws on 4 waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) spanning from 2012 to 2018, employing propensity score matching and weighted least squares regression to identify the causal relationship between rural-to-urban migration and subjective well-being, along with its intermediate pathways. The results show that rural-to-urban migration follows a positive selection process, with migrants exhibiting more advantageous socioeconomic characteristics before migrating; furthermore, such migration has a significantly negative impact on life satisfaction; social psychology, family relations, and working environment mechanisms partially account for the well-being deterioration caused by rural-to-urban migration; short-term and intra-provincial migration have more pronounced negative impacts compared to long-term and inter-provincial migration. Taken together, our findings inform effective policies designed to promote urban-rural integration and realize common prosperity, such as establishing a comprehensive well-being assessment system, improving social integration and solidarity within urban communities, developing family support and educational services, and regulating corporate employment practices.

The paper introduces the basic ideas of design for longitudinal survey data and its advantages and shortcomings,and discusses the rationales for collecting longitudinal data from the statistical perspectives.Longitudinal data are informative because they enable identification of population heterogeneity,study of intervening causal mechanisms,study of causal effects,and study of state transitions.Special considerations in longitudinal settings are addressed,as well as the importance of hypotheses,illustrated with examples of study designs using longitudinal data.Longitudinal data are not perfect,because the most serious shortcomings come from the intrinsic variability of humans and human behaviors.Given such severe limitations,what researchers of social phenomena can do is to develop better understanding,better conceptualization,and better data analysis,aided by longitudinal data.

At the start of the 21st century,the global population has reached 6 billions.The growth rate is significantly slower.Many countries completed their demographic transition;their TFRs are below the replacement level.Population health,meanwhile,has been improved remarkably-notable decline in mortality,as well as increase in life expectancy.This paper systematically analyzes the global trend,regional variation,as well as pattern in life expectancy in the past 50 years,using mortality data for 192 countries published by United Nations.The results indicate that life expectancy has been globally increasing for the last half century.More than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in countries or regions in which life expectancy is above 70 years old.The trends of life expectancy are diversified in that higher increase in less developed regions than in more developed regions,and the proportion of their population rose significantly.The largest increase in life expectancy occurred in Asia.While improvement in Africa is smaller than the world level,gaps among African countries or regions are great.