Post-Migration Fertility in Southern Europe: Romanian and Moroccan women in Italy and Spain

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse migrant women’s reproductive behaviour in two countries with the lowest fertility rates, namely, Italy and Spain. We assess differences in migrant fertility patterns according to country of origin by comparing the post-migration motherhood of Moroccan and Romanian women. We have used data from the “2007 National Immigrant Survey” (INE) and the ”2011-2012 Survey on Social Integration and Condition among Foreign Citizens” (ISTAT) to adopt an event-history approach to the factors that affect the birth of the first child after migration. Specifically, we focus on marital status upon arrival and on the number of previous children, controlling in turn for the women’s socioeconomic circumstances. The results show, firstly, that Moroccan women have a higher fertility rate than Romanians in both countries. Secondly, the risk of the first birth shortly after migration is higher among childless and married women, and this probability remain high even for women from Morocco with children. Thirdly a cross-country comparison reveals that the results related to childbearing patterns are similar.