Selective migration and inequalities in mortality

Recent studies found evidence of health selective migration whereby healthy people move to less deprived areas and less healthy people move to or stay in more deprived areas. There is, however, no consensus on whether selective migration influences inequalities over time. We constructed a record-linked total population cohort and analysed the risk of death for the deprivation quintiles. We compared a model allowing migration with quarterly house moves to a model which returned people to their deprivation fifth of origin, ignoring moves. We found evidence of selective migration and, overall, that migration did not substantially alter the socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in Wales between 2006 and 2011.