Long-lived and healthy migrants? A register study on all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Finland, 2002-2020

31.5.2024 at 1pm

It is well-known that emigrants are not a random sample of the population in their country of origin. Instead, selection into migration is selective. There is also a health dimension to this, because migrants are often healthier than the population of destination country. This is known as "healthy migrant effect", and it translates eventually to migrants' mortality advantage. However, empirical evidence is far from conclusive. Our study elucidates this topic by examining all-cause and cause-specific mortality among older migrant and non-migrant adults aged 70 and above using Finnish Cause of Death register data (2002–2020). Comparing migrants from diverse geographical regions with the majority population in Finland, we uncover an all-cause mortality advantage among older migrants, challenging assumptions of a diminishing healthy migrant effect with age. This advantage persists across various causes of death, with variations observed among regions of origin groups and between sexes. 

By Dr. Teemu Kemppainen, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki