How Health Systems Can Address Health Inequities Linked to Migration and Ethnicity

Overview

Migrants and ethnic minorities are often dealt with separately by researchers and policy-makers. This briefing considers them both separately and together, given that in some countries there is partial overlap between these groups and they can face similar problems of social exclusion. At the same time, however, it must be borne in mind that the composition of both groups is very diverse.

There are about 75 million migrants in the WHO European Region, amounting to 8.4% of the total population and 39% of all migrants worldwide. Figures for ethnic minorities are not available, because there is little consensus about definitions and available data are scarce. The largest of these groups are probably Roma, with an estimated population of 12−15 million.