Impact of the Covid-19 Epidemic on Immigrant Cause-Specific Mortality in Spain: A Penalty beyond Covid-19

Néstor Aldea-Ramos , University of Paris 1 and INED

Multiple research has shown that immigrant were more affected than natives by mortality increases during the early Covid-19 epidemic in Europe, their vulnerability being rooted in their social status. However, no study has examined this question for a longer period, and considering detailed causes of death. The present paper employs country-level, cause-specific mortality data from Spain (2020-2022), and decomposes probabilities of dying by age and cause of death contributions. By doing so, it assess the impact of the epidemic on immigrant Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 mortality at adult ages, as compared to natives’. First, mortality increased more for non-European immigrants than for natives during the epidemic. This steeper increase occurred at all adult ages and both sexes. Second, immigrants from more socially disadvantaged groups (Latin America, Morocco, Africa and Asia, plus Eastern Europe at working ages) experienced much higher mortality by Covid-19 than natives. Those same groups saw various non-Covid-19 causes of death contributing to a rise in their mortality relative to natives during the epidemic. Those causes include cardiovascular diseases, cancers, or external causes. Mortality by external causes – and notably overdoses – increased sharply for male Moroccan immigrants at ages 20-39. Socially-disadvantaged immigrant groups were much more vulnerable to Covid-19 mortality compared to natives. The rise in immigrant relative mortality from non-Covid-19 causes during the epidemic is consistent with Covid-19 misclassification, disruptions of healthcare access, or the adverse social consequences of the epidemic, all of which may have particularly affected some immigrant groups.

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 Presented in Session P4. Migration, Migrants, and Mobility