HEALTH SELECTION EFFECTS IN CHINA'S INTERNAL MIGRATION

Abstract

Drawing data from the 2008 survey of Internal Migration and Health in China, we compare various health indicators among current rural-to-urban migrants, rural residents who never migrated, return migrants, and urban citizens. Two health-selective mechanisms, the healthy migrant hypothesis and the salmon bias hypothesis, are empirically tested. Results provide empirical support to both these hypotheses. After controlling for individual's age, sex, socioeconomic status and major health-related behaviours, current rural-to-urban migrants are still better off than rural residents who never migrated regarding their self-rated general health, chronic diseases, self-perceived physical discomfort and lung capacity. Current rural-to-urban migrants are also less likely to have chronic diseases or to report physical discomfort than return migrants. Except for self-reported chronic diseases and abnormally high heart rate, there is no significant difference between rural-to-urban migrants and urban residents regarding the health measures used in this study.