The healthy immigrant effect

A large body of evidence suggests that new immigrants and refugees are healthier, both physically and mentally, than the native-born population upon initial arrival to their new country (Vang et al., 2015; Ng & Zhang, 2020).

This phenomenon is known as the “healthy immigrant effect”.

With more time spent in Canada, newcomers' health advantage tends to diminish, and the physical and mental health of immigrants and refugees begins to deteriorate.

As mentioned earlier, immigrants and refugees are diverse populations and their rates of mental health problems and illnesses vary considerably between and within groups. They differ based on gender, race, country of origin, age at arrival, length of time in Canada, socioeconomic status, immigration status and circumstances surrounding migration (MHCC, 2016).

Evidence suggests that some immigrant populations—in particular, immigrants from racialized groups, low-income immigrants and refugees—are at a higher risk of deteriorating health soon after arrival in Canada (Vang et al., 2015; Ng & Zhang, 2020; Salami, 2017).

Findings from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada showed that when asked to self-rate their health status, skilled principal applicants reported themselves to be generally healthy. In contrast, refugees reported their health status to be fair or poor (Zhao, Xue & Gilkinson, 2010). And refugees continue to experience greater mental health risk relative to other immigrant subgroups (Ng & Zhang, 2020).