Residential segregation and the fertility of immigrants and their descendants

Ben Wilson,Jouni Kuha

doi:10.1002/psp.2098

Abstract

AbstractMeasures of community population composition, such as residential segregation, are important theoretical mechanisms that have the potential to explain differences in fertility between immigrants, their descendants, and destination natives. However, only a handful of studies explore these mechanisms, and most are limited by the fact that they carry out cross‐sectional analysis. This study proposes a new approach, which focuses on community composition in childhood. It uses longitudinal census data and registered births in England and Wales to investigate the relationship between completed fertility and multiple measures of community composition, including residential segregation. The results show that the fertility of immigrants is closer to native fertility if they grow up in less segregated areas. This provides evidence in support of the childhood socialisation hypothesis. Furthermore, residential segregation explains some of the variation in completed fertility for second‐generation women from Pakistan and Bangladesh, the only second‐generation group to have significantly higher completed fertility than natives. This suggests one reason why the fertility of some South Asians in England and Wales may remain “culturally entrenched.” All of these findings are consistent for different measures of community composition. They are also easier to interpret than the results of previous research because exposure is measured before childbearing has commenced, therefore avoiding many issues relating to selection, simultaneity, and conditioning on the future.

Highlights

In most high‐income countries, there is a considerable body of empirical research that demonstrates the existence of immigrant fertility differentials—differences between the fertility of immigrants and “natives”—at least for some culturally distinct origin groups (Milewski, 2010)
In order to reduce the amount of heterogeneity in our sample and examine the extent to which our analysis can explain within‐group variation in completed fertility, our second analysis focuses on the two specific country groups whose completed fertility is most different from that of ancestral natives
We have considered the link between childhood community population composition and completed fertility

Summary

Introduction

In most high‐income countries, there is a considerable body of empirical research that demonstrates the existence of immigrant fertility differentials—differences between the fertility of immigrants and “natives”—at least for some culturally distinct origin groups (Milewski, 2010). A similar effort has been made to explain the existence of fertility differentials for the descendants of immigrants (e.g., Kulu et al, 2017). A more nuanced understanding of the determinants of fertility differentials, for both immigrants and their descendants, can help to enhance our ability to understand the long‐run impact of migration on fertility (and population dynamics), both over the life course of immigrants, and for subsequent generations (Kulu & González‐Ferrer, 2014).

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Results

Conclusion