In recent years, Germany and Austria have been among the leading European receiving countries for asylum seekers and refugees (AS&R). The two countries have cultural and economic similarities, but differ, for example, in their health care systems, with AS&R having unrestricted access to health services upon arrival in Austria, but not in Germany. This study investigates the determinants of health among refugees in Austria and Germany, and how these determinants differ between the two countries. We analyze comparable and harmonized survey data from both countries for Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi nationals aged 18 to 59 years who had immigrated between 2013 and 2016 (Germany: n = 2,854; Austria: n = 374). The study adopts a cross-sectional design, and uses propensity score matching to examine comparable AS&R in the two receiving countries. The results reveal that the AS&R in Germany (72%) were significantly less likely to report being in (very) good health than their peers in Austria (89%). Age and education had large impacts on health, whereas the effects of length of stay and length of asylum process were smaller. Compositional differences in terms of age, sex, nationality, education, and partnership situation explained the country differences only in part. After applying propensity score matching to adjust for structural differences and to assess non-confounded country effects, the probability of reporting (very) good health was still 12 percentage points lower in Germany than in Austria. We conclude that many of the determinants of health among AS&R correspond to those in the non-migrant population, and thus call for the implementation of similar health policies. The health disadvantage found among the AS&R in Germany suggests that removing their initially restricted access to health care may improve their health.

Background The number of people in need of care in Germany has been rising since decades, which is related to an increasing need and relevance of informal caregiving. Likewise, the number of people with a migration background has been increasing. This study aims to analyse the impact of informal caregiving on physical health in comparative perspective for Ethnic German Immigrants (EGI) – the largest and oldest immigrant group in Germany – and non-migrant Germans (NMG). Methods The sample was drawn from the years 2000–2018 of the German Socio-Economic Panel (n = 26,354). NMG (n = 24,634) and EGI (n = 1,720) were categorized into non-caregivers (n = 24,379) and caregivers (n = 1,975), where the latter were distinguished by 1) their caregiving status and history (current, former, and never caregiver) and 2) the number of years in the caregiver role. Generalized Estimating Equations were applied to examine main effects and the interaction effects of caregiving status and migration background for changes in physical health (n = 102,066 observations). Results Adjusting for socioeconomic, household related, and individual characteristics, NMG and EGI had similar caregiving patterns and physical health. However, the interaction between migration background and caregiving revealed significantly higher declines in physical health for currently caregiving EGI. Sensitivity analyses indicated that particularly socioeconomic resources moderated this effect. Conclusions Findings suggest that caregiving is associated with declines in physical health, particularly in the long term and for EGI. This implies that care-related disadvantages accumulate over time and that the association of caregiving, health and associated determinants are culturally diverse and shaped by migration background. Both the health disadvantages of caregivers and EGI might be mitigated by a positive social and socioeconomic setting, which highlights the relevance of supporting structures and benefits for these subgroups.

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