L’influence du lieu de naissance dans les inégalités sociales en matière de santé. Le cas de la Guyane

The links between migration and health are complex and dynamic. Health status can be a determinant of migration and, inversely, migration can affect the health of those who migrate. Based on the « Migrations, Famille et Vieillissement » (MFV) survey, this article investigates the effect of the place of birth on the self-reported health status of individuals in French Guiana. The novelty of this approach is to consider different types of migration beyond the international migration. We capture the internal migration through the French-metropole born individuals and return migration through the French Guiana born individuals who came back after a journey outside. Based on probit estimations, the likelihood of being in a good health is explained by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and the place of birth. Our results show that non-natives declare a better health status than natives who never moved from French Guiana. Differences appear among the country of the birth with the Europeans who declare the highest health status, follows by Africans, then French-metropole born individuals, and finally people from the neighbouring countries (Haitians, Brazilians and Surinamese). Concerning the duration of stay, our results confirm the evidence found in the literature about the deterioration of non-natives health status across time. This effect is more visible for chronic diseases and limitation of activities. On return migration, French Guiana born individuals who movedfrom a journey outside their country, do not report any significant difference in health status compared to natives who never moved outside. These results show the importance of deeper analysis of the social inequality into the motivations of people who enter into French Guiana.