Population Health Research Brief Series

Health data in the U.S. often groups South Asian immigrants into a single pan-ethnic category, masking important differences across subgroups.

This brief describes how disability rates vary by country of origin among immigrants from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and what gets hidden when these populations are combined.

The authors find that among adults aged 65 and older, Bangladeshi immigrants have higher disability rates than U.S.-born adults, while immigrants from India and Pakistan remain at or below U.S.-born levels. Because Indian immigrants make up about 79% of South Asians in the U.S. and have comparatively low disability rates, the Bangladeshi disadvantage disappears in the group average.