Since 1989, a large number of immigrants, mostly from the former Soviet Uni
on, have arrived in Israel, increasing the local population (c. 5 million)
by 700,000. The morbidity and mortality of this immigant population have be
en the concern of many investigations.
In the present study we examine the mortality pattern of a sample of 1,000
immigrants, whose deaths occurred during the years 1990-95 and were examine
d at the L. Greenberg (National) Institute of Forensic Medicine. The sample
was divided into two subgroups, natural and unnatural, according to manner
of death. Seventy-five per cent of the victims in the violent death subgro
up were males with a mean age of 44.6 (SD 17.3) years, while the females of
the same category were 52.7 years old on average (SD 19.9).
The age distribution of the whole sample showed peaks in the 25-34-year-old
group for males and the 35-44-year-old group for females. The most frequen
t causes of death were accident (44.1%), suicide (12.6%) and homicide (7%).
In 5% of cases the cause of death could not be determined.
The pattern of mortality from violent causes in the immigrant population di
ffered from that of the country of origin in all parameters. The incidence
of unnatural death in immigrants resembled the local pattern in Israel, and
was significantly lower than that of their homeland.