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Life Expectancy Among U.S.-born and Foreign-born Older Adults in the United States: Estimates From Linked Social Security and Medicare Data

Author

Listed:
  • Neil K. Mehta

    (Emory University)

  • Irma T. Elo

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Michal Engelman

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

  • Diane S. Lauderdale

    (University of Chicago)

  • Bert M. Kestenbaum

    (Social Security Administration)

Abstract

In recent decades, the geographic origins of America’s foreign-born population have become increasingly diverse. The sending countries of the U.S. foreign-born vary substantially in levels of health and economic development, and immigrants have arrived with distinct distributions of socioeconomic status, visa type, year of immigration, and age at immigration. We use high-quality linked Social Security and Medicare records to estimate life tables for the older U.S. population over the full range of birth regions. In 2000–2009, the foreign-born had a 2.4-year advantage in life expectancy at age 65 relative to the U.S.-born, with Asian-born subgroups displaying exceptionally high longevity. Foreign-born individuals who migrated more recently had lower mortality compared with those who migrated earlier. Nonetheless, we also find remarkable similarities in life expectancy among many foreign-born subgroups that were born in very different geographic and socioeconomic contexts (e.g., Central America, western/eastern Europe, and Africa).

Suggested Citation

  • Neil K. Mehta & Irma T. Elo & Michal Engelman & Diane S. Lauderdale & Bert M. Kestenbaum, 2016. "Life Expectancy Among U.S.-born and Foreign-born Older Adults in the United States: Estimates From Linked Social Security and Medicare Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(4), pages 1109-1134, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:53:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s13524-016-0488-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-016-0488-4
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    7. Mary J. Lopez & Sita Slavov, 2020. "Do immigrants delay retirement and social security claiming?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(10), pages 1105-1123, February.
    8. Ruhnke, Simon A. & Reynolds, Megan M. & Wilson, Fernando A. & Stimpson, Jim P., 2022. "A healthy migrant effect? Estimating health outcomes of the undocumented immigrant population in the United States using machine learning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    9. Breen, Casey & Goldstein, Joshua R., 2022. "Berkeley Unified Numident Mortality Database: Public Administrative Records for Individual-Level Mortality Research," SocArXiv pc294, Center for Open Science.
    10. Goldstein, Joshua R. & Osborne, Maria & Atherwood, Serge & Breen, Casey, 2022. "Mortality Modeling of Partially Observed Cohorts Using Administrative Death Records," SocArXiv efdzh, Center for Open Science.
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    12. Uliana Kostareva & Cheryl L. Albright & Eva-Maria Berens & Diane Levin-Zamir & Altyn Aringazina & Maria Lopatina & Luba L. Ivanov & Tetine L. Sentell, 2020. "International Perspective on Health Literacy and Health Equity: Factors That Influence the Former Soviet Union Immigrants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-20, March.
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