Immigrants healthier than native Canadians

It has been stated that immigrants are generally healthier but their health starts deteriorating after they come to Canada. However, the reason why their health declines the longer they stay in Canada is not known yet.

Mortality rate for immigrants lower than native Canadians—Study also brought forth the fact that mortality rate for new immigrants is significantly lower than for Canada-born people. And this rate stays better even after a stay greater than 20 years in Canada, the study asserts.

This reiterates the fact affirmed by several earlier studies that health of immigrants is certainly better than native Canadians. It’s not just lower mortality rates, new Canadian immigrants also have noticeably lower levels of poor or fair health, two studies by Statistics Canada researchers maintain.

The studies by Statistics Canada involved around 2.7 million Canadians out of which nearly 20 percent(or around 552,000) were immigrants from the period between 1991 and 2001. For determining the health of different segments of people in Canada, the studies surveyed 350,000 including roughly 50,000 immigrants.

Health of immigrants declines the longer they stay in Canada—The studies also clarified that the health of newcomers in Canada tends to decline with the duration of their stay in Canada and they become less healthy than Canada-born residents if they stay in Canada for a period of ten years or even longer.

Healthy immigrant effect--According to a senior analyst in the health analysis department of Statistics Canada, Edward Ng, Canada immigration policy seems to allow the healthier foreigners into Canada.

And once into Canada, majority of immigrants undergo less detailed medical screening thereby increasing the chances of becoming sick, adds Ng. Less access to Canada health care services is yet another factor that increases the likelihood of becoming sick among immigrants in Canada.

And the fact that newcomers in Canada don’t speak any of the two official languages of Canada, i.e. French or English, further complicates things for them.

The studies also stated that healthy immigrant effect was not found among all immigrants coming to Canada. Sub-Sahara African and American immigrants showed similar mortality rates as those for Canada-born.