Wealth disparities between elderly immigrants and natives: a study of Estonia and Latvia

Abstract

This study investigates wealth disparities between native and immigrant populations in Estonia and Latvia, focusing on individuals aged 60 years or older as the vast majority of immigrants in the Baltic region fall within this age group. We estimate the wealth differences between natives and immigrants across the wealth distribution and decompose the raw gap into its explained and unexplained parts. Our estimations show that the gaps in mean net wealth are of similar magnitude in Estonia and Latvia among the people aged 60 or older, with natives being on average about 40% wealthier than immigrants in both countries. Wealth disparities widen at the upper tail of the net wealth distribution. Although the factors contributing to the wealth gap are largely similar in both countries, some differences emerge. In Estonia, self-employment business assets and inheritances play a significant role, whereas in Latvia, additional real estate ownership contributes to the disparity.

Keywords

• Household wealth
• nativity gap
• inequality
• immigration
• Estonia
• Latvia