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This research aims to investigate the role of geographical mobility (understood as moving between three macro areas of the Italian territory - North, Centre, South and Islands) in health inequalities. In this article, it is hypothesized that individuals who migrated from the South of Italy to the North improved their living conditions and that these advantages positively affected their health. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that internal migrants suffer a penalty linked to their origin, which does not allow them to reach the levels of health of individuals originating from the North. The analysis is based on data from the first retrospective wave of the ITA.LI (Italian Lives) longitudinal study, conducted in 2019/2020 on all individuals aged 16 or over from a sample of approximately 5,000 Italian families. The health indicators used for the purposes of the analysis are the self-assessed health and risk factors such as the body mass index and the practice of physical activity. Sequence analysis was implemented to represent the internal migration paths and identify groups of individuals with similar geographical mobility patterns. Five clusters of internal migration were defined. The analyses illustrate that individuals who moved from the southern regions to the North show better health outcomes than those who have never moved from the South and that people who have moved to the North have slightly worse health outcomes than those who have always lived in the northern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Socio-economic inequalities originate from several channels, one of which is family origins, with clear effects on people's health. This paper aims to evaluate the role played by social mobility in determining health inequalities, relying on Blau and Duncan's status attainment model and focusing specifically on two moments of social reproduction of inequalities: one inter-generational, based on the transmission of resources from the family of origin, the other intra-generational, related to the capitalisation of economic resources to maximise well-being. Methods: Multi-group models of structural equations were used to examine the direct and indirect effects of parental cultural background, education and economic conditions of respondents on self-perceived health in 28 countries, relying on the European Social Survey (N =38,879). Results: Overall, the results confirmed the presence of an inter-generational transmission of social and health status. Different models of transmission of health inequalities emerged among the countries considered. Countries characterised by a social democratic welfare regime showed higher social mobility and fewer health inequalities, although in correspondence with a prominent role of economic factors in determining health conditions. On the other hand, in countries where social mobility is lower, health inequalities are more pronounced, yet driven by factors others than economics, such as socio-cultural origins. Conclusions: The presence of a higher economic-health gradient in social democratic countries – notwithstanding their egalitarian and universal welfare policies – provides support for the existence of a Nordic paradox in relation to health inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]