Health inequalities across different ethnic groups inequalities across different ethnic groups

In the Netherlands, the overall health of allochthonous people is comparably lower than the average Dutch citizen. Health inequality minimization has been on the agenda for decades. Various studies have researched the existence of health inequalities and the minimizing necessity, including and excluding the Netherlands in the analysis. However, there is limited empirical evidence available. The aim of this paper is to research and provide evidence on whether nationality or ethnicity has an explanatory role in health inequalities, by using the AVO2003 and the ESE-student survey. After using a logit model for a measure of self-assessed health and odds ratios for interpreting this model, our results indicate differences in perceived health amongst various ethnic groups in the Netherlands. Allochthonous individuals, especially non-western allochthonous people, report a lower level of self-assessed health than autochthonous individuals in the Netherlands. Further research focusing on the root causes of the existing health inequalities will facilitate its minimization.