Geographical Extraction and the Finnish-Swedish Health Differential in Finland

Authors

• Jan Saarela
• Fjalar Finnäs

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.45014

Keywords:

mortality, disability retirement, geographical extraction, language groups, Finland

Abstract

Previous research concerned with the Finnish-Swedish mortality differential in
Finland tends to have overlooked the fact that many Finnish speakers who live in the
same coastal area as the Swedish speakers originate from parts of the country with
high death rates. Using an extract from Statistics Finlands longitudinal employment
statistics ? le, we ? nd that geographical extraction is an important factor underlying
variation in both mortality and disability retirement in working-aged people. Finnish
speakers born in eastern and northern Finland have substantially poorer health than
those originating from western Finland. It is consequently not suf? cient to restrict
analyses only by present region of residence. Still, there remains a between-group
health differential also in people born in the coastal area, which suggests that health
behaviors and risk factors could be relevant.