Fertility of Turkish migrants in Germany: duration of stay matters

Abstract

This study examines the fertility behavior of male and female Turkish migrants in Germany. Our main objective in this paper is to investigate the role of duration since migration in rst and higher order birth risks. fertility rates and the total fertility rates are estimated and compared for the German and the Turkish respondents following a method suggested by Toulemon (2004). Second, discrete-time hazard rate models are calculated. We nd strongly elevated birth risks among the Turkish respondents in the years immediately following migration. This eect is found to be stronger for the females than for the males. The role of age at migration is also investigated. We nd here that migrants who were older than age 30 at migration had signicantly lower birth rates than other migrants, particularly those who migrated in young adulthood. We conclude that the fertility of Turkish migrants in Germany is strongly as- sociated with their migration history. It is therefore important to take into account both the age at migration and the duration of stay when studying migrant fertility.