Leaving for life: using online crowd-sourced genealogies to estimate the migrant mortality advantage for the United Kingdom and Ireland during the 18 th and 19 th centuries

Elena Pojman, Duke Elijah Mwedzi, Orlando Olaya Bucaro, Stephanie Zhang, Michael Chong, Monica J. Alexander and Diego Alburez-Gutierrez
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Elena Pojman: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Duke Elijah Mwedzi: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Orlando Olaya Bucaro: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Stephanie Zhang: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Monica J. Alexander: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Diego Alburez-Gutierrez: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

No WP-2023-050, MPIDR Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Abstract: Demographic studies consistently find a mortality advantage among migrants, but a lack of longitudinal data tracking individuals across national borders has limited the study of historical international migration. To address this gap, we use the crowd-sourced online genealogical database Familinx to estimate the migrant mortality advantage for migrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland between 1750 and 1910. We compare age at death for non-migrants and migrants to Canada, the United States, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia using mixed-effects regression models that account for unobserved factors shared between siblings. Results suggest an overall expected migrant advantage of 5.9 years, 95% CI [5.7, 6.2] even after accounting for between-family variation, with migrants estimated to live an additional 2.6 [1.1, 4.0] to 8.7 [6.3, 11.2] years depending on the country of destination. This study contributes to the understanding of the migrant mortality advantage in a historical context and shows the potential for online genealogies to contribute to demographic research. Keywords: crowd-sourced genealogies, migrant mortality advantage, United Kingdom, Ireland, sibling effects

Keywords: Australia; Canada; New Zealand; United Kingdom; USA; genealogy; migration; mortality; siblings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-his, nep-mig and nep-pay
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2023-050

DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2023-050

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