NDLI: The Migrant Mortality Advantage: A 70 Month Follow-up of the Brussels Population

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Anson, Jon
Copyright Year	2004
Abstract	There is considerable evidence that first generation immigrants to developed countries tend to have lower mortality than does the population as a whole at their destination. This advantage is usually ascribed to a selection process which makes migrants more robust than the local population and/or an acculturation process whereby third-world migrants lose their natural healthy life style as they take on modern urban dietary and living habits. We investigate immigrant-local mortality differences using a 6-year follow-up of the complete Brussels population aged 25–55, as enumerated at the Belgian census, 1991. We show that adult migrants have lower mortality than their native-born counterparts, despite their often poorer living arrangements, work status and human capital. This effect differs by origin group. The effects of age on mortality are similar for all groups, with mortality increasing about 8% a year. This increase is slightly greater for the Belgian born than for immigrants, which makes the selectivity explanation unlikely. Years since migration does not significantly increase the mortality risk for most groups, contradicting the acculturation hypothesis. Thus, explanations ascribing immigrants' mortality advantage to migrant selectivity, pre-modern cultural practices, or an artefact of population recording practices are insufficient. We propose, instead, an explanation based on the meaning migration has for the immigrant, and the hope engendered in the move, particularly that from a lesser to a more developed country.
Starting Page	191
Ending Page	218
Page Count	28
File Format	PDF
ISSN	01686577
Journal	European Journal of Population / Revue européenne de Démographie
Volume Number	20
Issue Number	3
e-ISSN	15729885
Language	English
Publisher	Kluwer Academic Publishers
Publisher Date	2004-01-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Social Geography Demography Population Economics Public Finance & Economics Methodology of the Social Sciences Sociology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Demography

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