Age Variations and Over-Coverage:Is the Migrant Mortality Advantage Merely a Data Artefact?
Matthew Wallace
Ben Wilson
10.17045/sthlmuni.11534109.v1
https://su.figshare.com/articles/preprint/Age_Variations_and_Over-Coverage_Is_the_Migrant_Mortality_Advantage_Merely_a_Data_Artefact_/11534109
The
migrant mortality advantage has been extensively observed in the literature,
but its veracity continues to be debated. In particular, concerns persist that the
advantage is merely an artefact, generated by issues identifying, and capturing
the mobility of, foreign-born populations. Here, we study this by working at
the intersection of two recent developments; one
uncovering age variation in the advantage (specifically a deep U-shape of
advantage at peak migration ages) and another uncovering high levels of over-coverage
– the main source of data artefact – at the same ages. Using survival analysis
on Swedish population registers from 2010 to 12, we aim to determine whether age
variation in the advantage persists after correcting over-coverage and,
ultimately, whether the advantage is an artefact. We find the U-shaped age
profile of advantage in Sweden and, crucially, discover that peak migration age
differentials are not caused by over-coverage. We demonstrate the advantage to
be real and, in all likelihood, generated by selection effects.
2020-01-07 09:14:31
International immigration
Health
Mortality
Over-coverage
Data artefacts
Unregistered emigration
Sweden
Stockholm Reports in Demography
Sociologiska institutionen
Department of Sociology
SUDA
Stockholm University Demography Unit
Stockholms universitets demografiska avdelning
Demography not elsewhere classified
Sociology