Fertility preferences and behaviours are among the key dimensions of migrants’ integration in the host society. On the one hand, they have been framed as one indicator of cultural integration, since they are the results of the influence of social and cultural norms of the society in which the individual lives. On the other hand, fertility behaviours can be considered as indirect indicators of migrants’ socioeconomic integration as they might be driven by opportunities and constraints experienced in the destination society.
In their paper, Eleonora Mussino and Stefano Cantalini look at the number of children migrants from two low-fertility contexts (Poland and Romania) have in two destinations (Italy and the United Kingdom), comparing them to co-nationals that never left the country of origin and to non-migrants at the destination country. They adopt a multi-origin/multi-destination approach, combined into a context-of-origin perspective, focusing on both migrant women and men and adding a couple perspective.
Based on a unique large data set combining the Italian Labour Force Survey, the British Labour Force Survey and the European Labour Force Survey for the period 2009-2015, their findings show that Polish and Romanian women have fewer children than non-migrants at destinations. Moreover, Romanian migrant women and men have a fertility similar to stayers at the origin, especially in the UK, suggesting a socialization pattern for this group.
Their findings also suggest the presence of the disruption mechanism, especially in Italy, with male and female migrants frequently having lower fertility short after migration because of the costs and difficulties encountered in the host society and due to family separation. This disruption mechanism for migrants is often combined with a ‘catch-up’ in the long run, partially explained by family reunification. In this study, the catch-up was found to be slower compared to previous studies. Finally, the authors find that the destination choice plays an important role in explaining migrants’ fertility, with Poles and Romanians having different (observed and unobserved) characteristics depending on the country they decide to move to.