Volume 50 - Article 37 | Pages 1113–1150  

The effect of migration and time spent abroad on migrants’ health: A home/host country perspective

By Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso, Eralba Cela, Eleonora Trappolini

Abstract

Background: It is widely recognized that migrants are generally healthy upon arrival, but for several reasons, a longer length of stay abroad can have detrimental effects on health. Empirical evidence suggests the use of different comparison groups (natives in the destination country; co-nationals in the origin country) to analyse migrants’ health, depending on research aims and data availability.

Objective: Using data from two nationally representative surveys, the Italian survey Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens (2011–2012) and the Albanian Living Standard Measurement Survey (2012), this study aims to (1) analyse health differences between migrants abroad and non-migrants in their origin countries, focusing on the Albania–Italy migration corridor; and (2) assess health differences among Albanian migrants living in Italy according to their length of stay.

Methods: We apply propensity score matching analysis to compare health outcomes between the two groups and use logistic regression models to investigate the effect of the length of stay in Italy on migrants’ health.

Results: Our findings show that migrants exhibit poorer health compared to their co-nationals in the origin country and, in line with previous studies, that longer residence in Italy is associated with health deterioration.

Contribution: This study is the first in Italy to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between migration and health. It does so by adopting a comparative home/host country perspective.

Author’s Affiliation

• Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso - Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Italy EMAIL
• Eralba Cela - Università degli Studi di Milano (UNIMI), Italy EMAIL
• Eleonora Trappolini - Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Italy EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Academic expectations and university enrolment of migrant-origin students in Italy: Evidence by migrant generation and origin group
Volume 54 - Article 10

Gendering health differences between nonmigrants and migrants by duration of stay in Italy
Volume 45 - Article 7

Return intentions over the life course: Evidence on the effects of life events from a longitudinal sample of first- and second-generation Turkish migrants in Germany
Volume 39 - Article 38

Family reunification – who, when, and how? Family trajectories among migrants in Italy
Volume 38 - Article 28

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