Ageing in a foreign country: determinants of self-rated health among older migrants in Italy

Within a framework of increasing ethnic diversity of developed countries' population, a growing body of migration literature has focused on migrants’ health. Nonetheless, although ageing is a major demographic trend of western societies involving both natives and migrants, older migrants remain a relatively under-researched group so far. In Italy, despite the increasing incidence of migration on total population, its fast ageing process, and the acknowledged difficulties that migrants face in becoming full members of the Italian  society, thus far, very little is known about the migrant population approaching old age. Our study focuses on the main protective and risk factors of health in later life using a unique dataset from the ‘Social condition and integration of foreign citizens’ (SCIF)’ survey conducted by ISTAT between 2011 and 2012. Our findings show that a number of variables related to both the migration process and living conditions in Italy are important determinants of self-rated health, stressing the necessity to design and implement tailored policy responses and services that address migrants’ vulnerabilities in later life.