Do Turkish migrants in Germany live longer but in worse health? An analysis of health expectancy of Turkish migrants in Germany

Marie Carnein, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Nadja Milewski, University of Rostock
Gabriele Doblhammer-Reiter, University of Rostock

The number of old age international migrants living in Germany is increasing. As a result, analyses of the health conditions of this group and new approaches to examine their demands for elderly care will become highly important issues. The interplay of migration and health and the resulting differences in health status between the migrant and host populations are the key aspects in the analyses presented here. In this context the research project will show new aspects of old age migrant health expectancies in Germany in comparison to the German host population. The remaining years of life are divided into years spent in good and in bad health by considering age-specific prevalences of disability. The data used in this study are population data from the German Office for National Statistics (Destatis) and the Central register of Foreigners (AZR) as well as data on age-specific prevalences of disability from the German Generations and Gender Survey (GGS). The measurement of health expectancy is used to highlight health inequalities between Turkish migrants living in Germany and Germans. The decomposition method is employed in order to explore the impact of mortality and disability on differences in health expectancy. The research results on health expectancy show distinct differences according to gender and nationality in terms of the proportion of remaining life expectancy spent in good and in bad health and their statistical impact on life expectancy. Within the Turkish population, especially women display greater advantages in life expectancy, but also stronger disadvantages in health. This means that during the remaining years of life, the Turkish migrant population is exposed to a higher risk of disability than the German one.