February 26, 2025 | News | Recommended Reading

Unhealthy Ageing of Immigrants

Study examines immigrant’s health trajectories in Germany

In their paper published in January, Silvia Loi, Peng Li and Mikko Myrskylä from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research use longitudinal survey data to estimate healthy ageing of immigrants and non-immigrants over the life-course in Germany. It examines the roles of education, income, and marital status, separately for men and women.

Immigrants experience faster health deterioration with age, leading to significant health disadvantages in later life. © istockphoto.com/Peter Melkie

The paper finds:

Immigrants experience faster health deterioration with age, leading to significant health disadvantages in later life.
Lower education correlates with better initial health among younger immigrants, due to a strong health selection, but this advantage diminishes with age, increasing disparities in later life.
Marriage and high income do not improve health outcomes for immigrants.
Disparities in health between immigrant and non-immigrant women are more pronounced than among men, highlighting greater vulnerability.
Immigrant women experience a shift to poorer health at an earlier age than immigrant men, indicating heightened risk.

Original Publication

Loi, S., Li, P., Myrskylä, M.: Unequal weathering: How immigrants’ health advantage vanishes over the life-course. Journal of Migration and Health (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2025.100303