The healthy immigrant effect: differentials between Canadian immigrants and native-born population in the education health gradient

Abstract

The relationship between education and health has been examined in many studies. This paper focuses on the relationship between health and education and explores the differentials of education health gradients between the immigrants and native-born population in Canada by analyzing cross-sectional datasets from the Canadian Community Health Survey collected by Statistic Canada. In particular the objective is to identify possible reasons for observed differences in gradients between these groups. After estimating a Logit model, this paper estimates the education health gradients on two health outcomes and three health behaviors. In most cases, the education health gradients of immigrants are flatter than that of native-born Canadians, indicating that less educated immigrants are in relatively better health (compared to non-immigrants with the same characteristics) than are more highly educated immigrants. Various possible explanations for this observed relationship are suggested.