Silvia Loi

Silvia Loi serves as Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany, where she heads the Migration and Health Inequalities research group and is affiliated with the MaxHel Center. Her research program focuses on understanding health disparities between immigrant and native populations across the life course, with particular attention to how initial health advantages among immigrants erode over time.

Her research interests span several critical areas in demographic health research:

• Migration and Health Inequalities
• Immigrant-native health disparities over the life course
• Chronic disease accumulation and multimorbidity patterns
• Social determinants of health among immigrant populations
• Life-course analysis of health trajectories
• Intersectionality in health outcomes by migration status

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on the 'healthy immigrant effect' and its erosion over time (weathering hypothesis). Her work frequently employs longitudinal data from multiple European countries to examine patterns of health decline among immigrant populations compared to natives, with particular attention to how factors like living arrangements, social integration, loneliness, and family formation influence these trajectories. Many of her studies examine older adult populations to understand how migration status interacts with aging processes across different European contexts.

As leader of the Migration and Health Inequalities research group, Dr. Loi collaborates extensively with researchers across Europe and contributes to major demographic research initiatives at the MPIDR. Her work has significant implications for understanding the health consequences of migration and informing policies related to immigrant integration and healthcare access.