Does the Health Paradox of Latin American Immigrants Apply to European Countries? A Study through Labour Inactivity Rates

Ana Hermeto, Cedeplar, UFMG
Elisenda Rentería , Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics

The “healthy migrant effect” has been extensively examined for Latin American (LATAM) immigrants in the United States. In Europe, although they are increasing their presence, their health and mortality has been less studied, and it is even more difficult to find country comparisons. Nevertheless, it is crucial to understand if a different country integration process could have a distinct impact on their wellbeing. Making use of the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) we look into inequalities in the level of labour market inactivity due to illness or disability in migrants and non-migrants among 5 European countries: Italy, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and Switzerland. Although inactivity due to health reasons is not an overall measure of health, we argue that in the case of immigrants it is a good proxy of bad health, as usually individuals migrate to find a job and being inactive due to an illness should be signalling a worse health status. Results show that the healthy immigrant effect among LATAM compared to natives is only observed in Spain, Italy, and Portugal, and only for recent immigrants. For long-term immigrants, the effect disappears. Moreover, African immigrants show a larger healthy immigrant effect than LATAM, except in Portugal. This opens a discussion about the differences in the composition of LATAM immigrants in Europe compared to North America, what kind of integration they bear in each country, and how much all these factors impact in the migration process and the definition of the health of immigrants.

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 Presented in Session 107. Migration and Health