PUBLI : Michel Guillot, Myriam Khlat, Matthew Wallace, « Adult mortality among second-generation immigrants in France : Results from a nationally representative record linkage study », Demographic Research, juin 2019

Back­ground : France has a large popu­la­tion of second-gene­ra­tion immi­grants (i.e., native-born chil­dren of immi­grants) who are known to expe­rience impor­tant socioe­co­nomic dispa­ri­ties by country of origin. The extent to which they also expe­rience dispa­ri­ties in morta­lity, however, has not been previously examined.

Methods : We used a natio­nally repre­sen­ta­tive sample of indi­vi­duals 18 to 64 years old in 1999 with morta­lity follow-up via linked death records until 2010. We compared morta­lity levels for second-gene­ra­tion immi­grants with their first-gene­ra­tion coun­ter­parts and with the refe­rence (neither first- nor second-gene­ra­tion) popu­la­tion using morta­lity hazard ratios as well as proba­bi­li­ties of dying between age 18 and 65. We also adjusted hazard ratios using educa­tional attain­ment reported at baseline.

Results : We found a large amount of excess morta­lity among second-gene­ra­tion males of North African origin compared to the refe­rence popu­la­tion with no migrant back­ground. This excess morta­lity was not present among second-gene­ra­tion males of southern Euro­pean origin, for whom we instead found a morta­lity advan­tage, nor among North African–origin males of the first-gene­ra­tion. This excess morta­lity remained large and signi­fi­cant after adjus­ting for educa­tional attainment.

Contri­bu­tion : In these first esti­mates of morta­lity among second-gene­ra­tion immi­grants in France, males of North African origin stood out as a subgroup expe­rien­cing a large amount of excess morta­lity. This finding adds a public health dimen­sion to the various disad­van­tages already docu­mented for this subgroup. Overall, our results high­light the impor­tance of second-gene­ra­tion status as a signi­fi­cant and previously unknown source of health dispa­rity in France.