Fertility of Latin American and Maghrebi Immigrants and Their Descendants in Their Early Twenties in Spain

Jesús García Gómez , Universidad de Salamanca
Emilio A. Parrado, University of Pennsylvania

While many studies have been carried out on the immigrants’ fertility in Spain, immigrant descendants’ reproductive patterns have not yet been systematically explored. This study investigates the early childbearing (prior to the age of 25) of Maghrebi and Latin American immigrants and their descendants (1.5 and 2nd generations) in Spain between 2011-2015. We use a new database that links Natural Movement of the Population Records to a 10% sample of the 2011 Spanish Census. In order to analyze if Latin American and Maghrebi immigrants' descendants converge towards the Spanish native pattern characterized by a very reduced early fertility, we run Poisson Regression models. While there is a process of intergenerational convergence in the case of Latin American immigrants that eliminates the differences with respect to the native population, in the case of Maghrebi immigrants the great difference that exists in those who arrive in Spain at more than 15 years of age is reduced but does not disappear in the 2nd generation. Then we study the reasons causing the differences in early childbearing between Latin American and Maghrebi immigrants in Spain. To do so we implement a multivariate decomposition for nonlinear response models. The mean number of children had between 2011 and 2015 is 0.12 for Latin American and 0.32 for Maghrebi immigrants. Differences in measured characteristics account for 39.72% of this difference and differences in effects for 60.28%. Labor market participation and household composition have different effects on early childbearing among Latin American and Maghrebi women in Spain.

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 Presented in Session 44. Low and Middle Income Countries' Fertility Dynamics