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From health to sickness in one generation: The refugee mortality advantage and its disappearance for the children of refugees

Matthew Wallace, Stockholm University
Ben Wilson, Stockholm University

It is well-known that immigrants have a lower risk of dying than native-born populations, particularly in young adulthood. Research has also shown that the children of immigrants do not experience a similar mortality advantage. However, little is known about the mortality of refugees and their children. This is an important omission, not only because of increasing refugee inflows in many destinations, but also because forced migration is known to have a significant impact on health. Here, we carry out a case study of Sweden, using longitudinal data for the whole population. We study those aged 15-44 in 1997 and use data on all deaths from 1997-2016 to study mortality for refugees who arrived as adults (G1), as children (G1.5), and native-born children of refugees (G2). We find evidence of a sizeable mortality advantage for G1 refugees, which is similar to the advantage for other immigrants, but disappears for the G1.5 and G2. Higher mortality risks for children of refugees are driven by circulatory diseases, other diseases and other external causes. Those from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East face the greatest disadvantage, although smaller than the disadvantage for those from the same regions whose parents were not forced to migrate.

Keywords: Mortality, Refugees, Health and morbidity, Migrant populations

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 26. Infant and Child Mortality