IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v32y2016i5d10.1007_s10680-016-9397-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Healthy Migrants? Health Selection of Internal Migrants in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Christina Westphal

    (Rostock Center for the Study of Demographic Change
    Project Group Extracorporeal Immunomodulation)

Abstract

In Germany, internal migration streams have shaped the population structure quite notably during the past two decades. As selective migration can have a substantial impact on the geographical distribution of health, this paper examines whether internal migrants in Germany are selected regarding their health status. To capture health selection, one measure—i.e. self-rated contentment with health—and two established risk factors for poor health—i.e. smoking and BMI—were included. Applying event history analysis, the health status of migrants was compared to non-migrants, controlling for other individual characteristics. The analyses were based on the German Socio-Economic Panel, a retrospective data set representative of the German population. Results for self-rated health and smoking were inconclusive. While self-rated health was only related to migration in men, smoking was only linked to migration in women. However, there was a clear association between BMI and migration, i.e. the propensity to migrate decreased significantly with increasing weight. The results suggest that BMI is an important indicator of increased susceptibility to ill health, which prevent people from migration. Leaving behind a population who has a greater susceptibility to chronic conditions, selective migration is likely to reinforce the consequences of population ageing and healthcare demand, in particular in regions characterized by outmigration.

Suggested Citation

  • Christina Westphal, 2016. "Healthy Migrants? Health Selection of Internal Migrants in Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 703-730, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:32:y:2016:i:5:d:10.1007_s10680-016-9397-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-016-9397-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-016-9397-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-016-9397-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Herbert Brücker & Parvati Trübswetter, 2007. "Do the best go west? An analysis of the self-selection of employed East-West migrants in Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 371-395, September.
    2. Wallace, Matthew & Kulu, Hill, 2014. "Low immigrant mortality in England and Wales: A data artefact?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 100-109.
    3. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Allison B. Rosen, 2009. "Is the US Population Behaving Healthier?," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment, pages 423-442, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John, 2008. "Beyond BMI: The value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 519-529, March.
    5. Norman, Paul & Boyle, Paul & Rees, Philip, 2005. "Selective migration, health and deprivation: a longitudinal analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(12), pages 2755-2771, June.
    6. Martin Kroh & Rainer Siegers, 2014. "Documentation of Sample Sizes and Panel Attrition in the German Socio Economic Panel (SOEP) (1984 until 2013)," Data Documentation 75, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Björn Alecke & Timo Mitze & Gerhard Untiedt, 2010. "Internal migration, regional labour market dynamics and implications for German East-West disparities: results from a Panel VAR," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 30(2), pages 159-189, September.
    8. Lu, Yao, 2008. "Test of the 'healthy migrant hypothesis': A longitudinal analysis of health selectivity of internal migration in Indonesia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1331-1339, October.
    9. Martin Kroh, 2012. "Documentation of Sample Sizes and Panel Attrition in the German Socio Economic Panel (SOEP) (1984 until 2011)," Data Documentation 66, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Cassio Turra & Irma Elo, 2008. "The Impact of Salmon Bias on the Hispanic Mortality Advantage: New Evidence from Social Security Data," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 27(5), pages 515-530, October.
    11. Liane Schenk, 2007. "Migration und Gesundheit – Entwicklung eines Erklärungs- und Analysemodells für epidemiologische Studien," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 52(2), pages 87-96, April.
    12. repec:zbw:rwirep:0096 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yuriy Nesterko & Carmen Meiwes Turrión & Michael Friedrich & Heide Glaesmer, 2019. "Trajectories of health-related quality of life in immigrants and non-immigrants in Germany: a population-based longitudinal study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(1), pages 49-58, January.
    2. Michael Mühlichen, 2019. "Avoidable Mortality in the German Baltic Sea Region Since Reunification: Convergence or Persistent Disparities?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(3), pages 609-637, July.
    3. Krzysztof Czaderny, 2019. "Lung cancer mortality in historical context. How stable are spatial patterns of smoking over time?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(15), pages 395-416.
    4. Mühlichen, Michael & Lerch, Mathias & Sauerberg, Markus & Grigoriev, Pavel, 2023. "Different health systems – Different mortality outcomes? Regional disparities in avoidable mortality across German-speaking Europe, 1992–2019," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    5. Maria Vaalavuo & Mikko-Waltteri Sihvola, 2021. "Are the Sick Left Behind at the Peripheries? Health Selection in Migration to Growing Urban Centres in Finland," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 341-366, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Timo Mitze, 2012. "Testing the Neoclassical Migration Model: Overall and Age-Group Specific Results for German Regions," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, in: Empirical Modelling in Regional Science, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 53-82, Springer.
    2. Anna Oksuzyan & Eleonora Mussino & Sven Drefahl, 2019. "Sex differences in mortality in migrants and the Swedish-born population: Is there a double survival advantage for immigrant women?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(3), pages 377-386, April.
    3. Tiefensee, Anita & Grabka, Markus M., 2016. "Comparing Wealth - Data Quality of the HFCS," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(2), pages 119-142.
    4. Björn Alecke & Timo Mitze & Gerhard Untiedt, 2010. "Internal migration, regional labour market dynamics and implications for German East-West disparities: results from a Panel VAR," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 30(2), pages 159-189, September.
    5. Katrien Vanthomme & Hadewijch Vandenheede, 2021. "Factors Associated with Return Migration of First-Generation Immigrants in Belgium (2001–2011)," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(3), pages 603-624, July.
    6. Olga Grigoriev & Gabriele Doblhammer, 2022. "Does the Mortality of Individuals with Severe Disabilities Contribute to the Persistent East–West Mortality Gap Among German Men?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(2), pages 247-271, May.
    7. Fuchs, Michaela & Weyh, Antje, 2016. "Rückwanderung von Beschäftigten nach Sachsen-Anhalt : Eine Analyse anhand der Beschäftigten-Historik des IAB," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Sachsen-Anhalt-Thüringen 201601, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. Michaela Fuchs & Antje Weyh, 2015. "Return migration to East Germany: Spatial patterns and the relevance for regional labor markets," ERSA conference papers ersa15p835, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Philip Anglewicz & Mark VanLandingham & Lucinda Manda-Taylor & Hans-Peter Kohler, 2018. "Health Selection, Migration, and HIV Infection in Malawi," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 979-1007, June.
    10. Cutler, David M. & Lange, Fabian & Meara, Ellen & Richards-Shubik, Seth & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2011. "Rising educational gradients in mortality: The role of behavioral risk factors," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1174-1187.
    11. David M. Cutler & Fabian Lange & Ellen Meara & Seth Richards & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2010. "Explaining the Rise in Educational Gradients in Mortality," NBER Working Papers 15678, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Yuriy Nesterko & Carmen Meiwes Turrión & Michael Friedrich & Heide Glaesmer, 2019. "Trajectories of health-related quality of life in immigrants and non-immigrants in Germany: a population-based longitudinal study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(1), pages 49-58, January.
    13. Fuchs, Michaela & Weyh, Antje, 2016. "Rückwanderung von Beschäftigten nach Thüringen : eine Analyse anhand der Beschäftigten-Historik des IAB," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Sachsen-Anhalt-Thüringen 201602, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    14. Mitze, Timo & Reinkowski, Janina, 2010. "Testing the Validity of the Neoclassical Migration Model: Overall and Age-Group Specific Estimation Results for German Spatial Planning Regions," MPRA Paper 23616, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Frank Trovato, 2020. "The Immigrant Mortality Advantage in Canada, 2001 and 2011," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 351-379, June.
    16. Christina J. Diaz & Liwen Zeng & Ana P. Martinez-Donate, 2018. "Investigating Health Selection Within Mexico and Across the US Border," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(2), pages 181-204, April.
    17. Nicolas Gérard Vaillant & François-Charles Wolff, 2010. "Origin differences in self-reported health among older migrants living in France," Working Papers hal-00449608, HAL.
    18. Lankila, Tiina & Näyhä, Simo & Rautio, Arja & Koiranen, Markku & Rusanen, Jarmo & Taanila, Anja, 2013. "Health and well-being of movers in rural and urban areas – A grid-based analysis of northern Finland birth cohort 1966," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 169-178.
    19. Wallace, Matthew & Kulu, Hill, 2015. "Mortality among immigrants in England and Wales by major causes of death, 1971–2012: A longitudinal analysis of register-based data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 209-221.
    20. Yuying Tong & Martin Piotrowski, 2012. "Migration and Health Selectivity in the Context of Internal Migration in China, 1997–2009," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(4), pages 497-543, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:32:y:2016:i:5:d:10.1007_s10680-016-9397-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.