Does the Healthy Migrant Effect Extend to the Next Generation? Infant Mortality and Parental Migration Status in the Antwerp District, 1846–1906 cohorts

This study examines whether the healthy migrant effect extends to the next generation by analyzing infant mortality by parental migration status in the Antwerp district for cohorts born between1846–1906. During this period, the region experienced large-scale migration from within Belgium and neighboring countries. Using longitudinal data from the Antwerp COR*-database, I conduct survival analysis to examine whether and how parental migration status impacted infant mortality. Cox proportional hazard models reveal that infants born to domestic migrant mothers had significantly lower mortality risks compared to those of native mothers — a 17 to 19% lower risk of dying. This effect remained robust after adjusting for the infant's sex, birth year, legitimacy status, maternal age at birth, and paternal socioeconomic status. No such advantage was observed for infants of international migrant mothers, likely due to their mothers' lower social integration. While infants of both domestic and international migrant fathers also exhibited lower mortality risks than those of native-born fathers, these effects were considerably smaller than those of domestic migrant mothers and not statistically significant.