Health Assimilation of Rural-Urban Migration in Developing Economies: Lessons from Four Major Cities of Indonesia

This paper examines the health assimilation patterns of rural-urban migrants in Indonesia. Previous studies—mostly based on cross-sectional data—suggest that although migrants arrive healthier, their health declines over time, a pattern known as unhealthy assimilation. However, such analyses often conflate duration effects with cohort differences, introducing potential bias. Using longitudinal data from the 2008–2011 RUMiCI survey and individual fixed-effects models across multiple health indicators, we assess whether this pattern holds in the Indonesian context. Our findings show no strong evidence that migrants are initially healthier than urban non-migrants. In contrast, we find signs of better outcomes on several long-term health measures among migrants. These results challenge the notion of inevitable health decline with longer urban exposure and suggest that earlier evidence of unhealthy assimilation may reflect methodological limitations rather than actual deterioration. JEL Codes: I10, I12, J61, O15, R23