Citation

Jarvis B, Kawalerowicz J, Valdez S. Scand. J. Public Health 2017; 45(17): 62-65.

Affiliation

The Institute for Analytical Sociology, Linköping University, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Associations of Public Health in the Nordic Countries Regions, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1403494817702341

PMID

28683655

Abstract

AIM: Country-of-birth data contained in registers are often aggregated to create broad ancestry group categories. We examine how measures of residential segregation vary according to levels of aggregation.

METHOD: We use Swedish register data to calculate pairwise dissimilarity indices from 1990 to 2012 for ancestry groups defined at four nested levels of aggregation: (1) micro-groups containing 50 categories, (2) meso-groups containing 16 categories, (3) macro-groups containing six categories and (4) a broad Western/non-Western binary.

RESULTS: We find variation in segregation levels between ancestry groups that is obscured by data aggregation.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the practice of aggregating country-of-birth statistics in register data can hinder the ability to identify highly segregated groups and therefore design effective policy to remedy both intergroup and intergenerational inequalities.

Language: en

Keywords

Residential segregation; ancestry; population registers