Health selection into migration from Poland to the Netherlands: a matched case–control analysis

This study sheds light on health selection into migration from Poland to the Netherlands. Scholars have highlighted health as an important resource to overcome barriers to migration, and suggested that health selection into migration may particularly be expected under specific conditions, e.g. when geographical distances between origin and destination countries are large and when immigration policies in the destination country are restrictive. I assessed whether health selection into migration was also present in a within–European Union migration flow to which such conditions do not apply. I analyzed data from four surveys of Polish migrants in the Netherlands (n = 1,210) and European Social Survey data on Polish natives who stayed in Poland (n = 1,843). I performed conditional logistic regression analyses for matched case–control groups to model health selection into migration. Better health status was associated with a greater propensity to migrate from Poland to the Netherlands. Additional research is needed to determine whether the lower expected returns on migration for people in suboptimal health make them less inclined to migrate than their healthier counterparts, also in the absence of restrictive immigration policies and excessive geographical distances between origin and destination countries.