Migrant mortality across contexts and generations: A comparative study of Norway and England and Wales

Background: Research on migrant mortality has seldom made comparisons across destinations, nor compared the mortality outcomes of immigrants from the same origin in different welfare state contexts. Objective: We aim to investigate the all-cause mortality of immigrants and their descendants in two different contexts, comparing different origin groups to the majority native population and comparing generations. Furthermore, we compare the mortality of the Pakistani immigrant group, who are comparable in selection across the two contexts. Methods: We use survival analysis methods with data from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study of England and Wales (E&W) and the Norwegian Population Register. Results: A migrant mortality advantage exists in both countries. However, there is considerable heterogeneity by origin country. Culturally similar countries experience the least advantage. We find no significant mortality advantage for second-generation immigrants in Norway and a disadvantage for the descendants of immigrants in E&W. For first-generation Pakistani immigrants, we see higher mortality in Norway compared to natives, whilst in E&W we observe lower mortality compared to natives. However, when Pakistani immigrants are compared to each other, Pakistani-born immigrants in Norway, particularly women, have lower mortality than their counterparts in E&W. Contribution: This work contributes further evidence about the migrant mortality advantage and the change between generations from advantage to disadvantage or no advantage. It is one of few studies to look at migrant mortality in different destination contexts, and by doing so it contributes to a deeper understanding of the importance of the destination context.