Age variations and population over-coverage: Is low mortality among migrants merely a data artefact?

Area of Science:

• Demography
• Public Health
• Sociology

Background:

• The migrant mortality advantage, a documented phenomenon, faces skepticism regarding its authenticity.
• Concerns exist that this advantage is a data artifact, stemming from challenges in recording foreign-born populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether population over-coverage, a known data artifact, explains the age variation in the migrant mortality advantage.
• To determine the authenticity of the migrant mortality advantage by analyzing Swedish population data.

Main Methods:

• Event history analysis of Swedish population registers from 2010-2015.
• Examining the U-shaped age variation in the migrant mortality advantage.
• Adjusting for estimated population over-coverage to assess its impact on mortality differentials.

Main Results:

• The study confirmed a U-shaped migrant mortality advantage in Sweden.
• Significant mortality differentials between migrants and the native-born population persisted after adjusting for over-coverage.
• Population over-coverage was not found to be the primary driver of the observed age variation.

Conclusions:

• The migrant mortality advantage is a genuine phenomenon.
• The study rules out data artifact due to over-coverage as the main explanation for the migrant mortality advantage.
• Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms driving this advantage.