Health Selection and Trajectories of Immigrants in Canada and the United States

Yao Lu, Columbia University
Neeraj Kaushal, Columbia University
Nicole Denier, McGill University
Julia Shu-Huah Wang, Columbia University

Canada and the US are countries with long histories of immigration but different immigration and integration policies. The present study examines the health selection and trajectories of immigrants in the two countries. We first use 10 years of NHIS and CCHS data to study relative health selection. Specifically, we compare multiple health indicators of very recent immigrants from the same regions of origin in the two countries. Results seem to be aligned with the speculation that the more skilled-based Canadian immigration policy has led to a greater degree of positive health selection among immigrants, especially for objective health measures. However, we also find a significant difference in self-reported health favoring US immigrants. In the next steps, we will adjudicate between several plausible explanations for this differential health selection. We will also conduct analysis of the health trajectories of immigrants at the two destinations.