Determinants of Fertility among Immigrants and Descendants in the UK

Jiseon Baek , University of St Andrews
Hill Kulu, University of St Andrews
Sarah Christison, University of St Andrews
Francesca F Fiori, University of Strathclyde

Immigrants and their descendants in the UK exhibit varying fertility levels. Most existing studies have focused on the binary distinction between immigrants and their descendants. This study advances prior research by categorising immigrants and descendants into four groups: 1G (immigrated as adults), 1.5G (immigrated as children), 2G (UK-born to foreign-born parents), and 2.5G (UK-born with one foreign-born parent and one UK-born parent). This research aims to examine fertility rates and influencing factors among various migrant groups across different generations in the UK. Event history analysis is applied to data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (N=59,172). The preliminary findings highlight variations in fertility rates both within and between immigrant and descendant groups. The Western and African groups consistently exhibit lower first birth risks across generations, whilst the Pakistani and Bangladeshi (PAK/BGD) group has relatively higher first birth risks across generations compared to British natives. The convergence of the first birth risk to that of British natives among Indian and PAK/BGD descendants indicates that certain descendant groups are adopting similar childbearing behaviours to British natives. Lastly, we found that individual characteristics, such as cultural and socio-economic factors, partly explain the first birth risk of certain groups, including the 1.5G Indian group, the 2.5G Caribbean group, and all PAK/BGD groups. The next step of this study involves investigating the second and third birth risks whilst controlling for individual characteristics. This study contributes to a better understanding of childbearing behaviours and the influencing factors among immigrants and their descendants in the UK.

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 Presented in Session 101. Migrant Populations and Fertility