Health of Immigrants in European Countries^†

Abstract

The health of older immigrants can have important consequences for needed social support and demands placed on health systems. This paper examines health differences between immigrants and the native‐born populations aged 50 years and older in 11 European countries. We examine differences in functional ability, disability, disease presence, and behavioral risk factors for immigrants and nonimmigrants using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) database. Among the 11 European countries, migrants generally have worse health than the native population. In these countries, there is a little evidence of the “healthy migrant” at ages 50 years and over. In general, it appears that growing numbers of immigrants may portend more health problems in the population in subsequent years.