How does Migration Impact Individuals’ Public Safety Perceptions? Evidence from China

Since 1978, millions of Chinese workers have migrated to seek personal development opportunities. However, little is known about what the world’s largest internal migration means for the public. Safety perceptions concern the vital well-being of each individual and can indirectly indicate criminal activities in society. From a microscopic perspective, this study is the first attempt to focus on the impact of migration on individuals’ public safety perceptions in China. Using the ordered probit model and conducting robustness tests using the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Instrumental Variable (IV) methods, we found that an individual’s public safety perception generally declines when the proportion of migrants in the community increases. However, the impacts on the various groups were different. Internal migration has been suggested to have a more significant influence on females, older people, high-income groups, locals, and individuals living in the east. Furthermore, migration negatively affected public safety perceptions in China, primarily by endangering employment and weakening social trust. This study has significant policy implications for the effective public safety administration in China. Likewise, the findings could also help many developing countries with migration management because there has been an increase in rural-urban migration during economic development.