Regional mortality inequalities in the Netherlands and the role of internal migration

The selective nature of migration and its influences on the health and mortality of migrants compared to natives is well established for international migration, but less so for internal migration. In this study, we aim at quantifying the influence that internal migration exerts on regional mortality differentials in the Netherlands. We use mortality and population data from population registers for the period 2015-2019 to compute life tables by internal migration status in the 40 Dutch NUTS-3 regions. Preliminary results show that, contrarily to most international studies on international migrants, people who moved across region in the 10 years prior to observation display a life expectancy 2.7 (males) to 3.8 (females) lower than their counterparts who remained in the same region. This negative selection of internal migrants is found in all regions, albeit with large differences, and reflects the negative selection of internal migrants above the age of 40, i.e. much younger than anticipated. Because of the small share of internal migrants in the population, these gaps however do not contribute to the observed regional mortality differentials.