In Search of the Healthy Immigrant Effect in Four West European Countries

Abstract

The present research examines whether the ‘healthy immigrant effect’ thesis observed in the American context prevails also in the West European context. According to this thesis, immigrants are likely to be healthier than comparable nativeborn. Data for the analysis are obtained from the Generations and Gender Survey for the following countries: Austria, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Ordered logit regression models are estimated to compare the health of immigrants with the native-born population. The findings reveal that in all countries, immigrants tend to report poorer health than comparable third generation native-born Europeans, and that health disparities between second and third generation are smaller than health disparities between first-generation members and native-born regardless of second- or thirdgeneration membership. The findings in the West-European countries do not lend support to the healthy immigrant effect. We attribute the differences between the United States and the West European countries to differential selection processes and differences in healthcare policies.