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Matthew Wallace, INED and Michel Guillot, University of Pennsylvania
(Project no. 1001959)
This research examines age variations in foreign-born vs. native born mortality ratios, with the purpose of gaining insight into the mechanisms explaining why mortality among migrants in receiving countries differs from that of non-migrants. We examine the four primary explanations for the migrant mortality advantage (data quality issues, selection at entry, selection at exit, and cultural effects) and formulate expectations as to whether these four explanations should generate an increase, decrease, or no change in relative mortality over the life course. We will use census and un-linked death registration data from France, the US and UK for the period 2000-2010 to calculate age-specific mortality rates for immigrant populations. The LS will be used to provide supplementary data on age at migration and age at, and levels of, return migration for major migrant groups in England and Wales (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Poland etc…). The data will aid our interpretation of age-specific death rates (ASDRs) in relation to the theoretical framework. For example, if we observe decreasing ASDRs above age 60 for a migrant population relative to the receiving population is it because an increasing number of individuals choose to return to their country of origin at old ages causing an under-count of deaths in the receiving country databases? (migrant selection at exit) If mortality among migrants is low at young working ages but attenuates by age to to the mortality level among the receiving population, is this because migrants stop arriving in England and Wales on a large-scale (indicating migrant selection at entry). ASDRs from France and the US will be supplemented with similar individual-level data from the respective countries.