Several studies have addressed immigrant fertility in developed societies, although focusing almost exclusively on immigrants from high-fertility countries (see e.g. Kulu and González-Ferrer 2014). Conversely, research on immigrants from low-fertility countries is rare, despite its strong potential interest (Tønnesen and Mussino 2020).

In a recent study, we analyzed precisely this: the fertility of people who were born in low-fertility countries and migrated to Sweden, focusing in particular on those who moved before age 18, that is before the start of their reproductive careers (Mussino, Wilson and Andersson 2021). More precisely, using Swedish population registers, we selected resident women born between 1940 and 1976 (aged 40–76 years in 2017). We measured their cumulative fertility, assuming that it was practically complete (90% of our study population was aged 45 or older). Our aim was to examine the “fertility adaptation of migrants”, in terms of both quantum (total fertility) and tempo (age at first birth). Hoping to get a clearer picture, we broke migrants down by age at arrival (0–18 years, 18–35 years), and compared their fertility to that of “ancestral Swedes” (Swedish-born children of Swedish-born parents). 

The fertility of child migrants from low-fertility origin countries

Given our selection criteria, it is not surprising that most adult immigrants have levels of completed fertility below the ancestral Swedish average of two children per woman. The exception is women from the former Yugoslavia, with an average of 2.2 children. Of our 14 origin groups, those with the lowest levels of completed fertility come from Eastern Europe or East Asia.

For most low-fertility origin groups, child migrants (i.e. who arrived in Sweden before their 18th birthday) tend to have an average completed fertility that is higher than that of adult immigrants, but lower than that of ancestral Swedes (2 children per woman), sometimes considerably lower (Figure 1). On average, child migrants tend to have a completed fertility around 0.1 to 0.3 children higher than adult migrants, with a few exceptions: former Yugoslavia (again), Greece and Cyprus. For child migrants, the range of completed fertility is narrower than for adult migrants, extending from 1.7 for those from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, and Romania, to 2.1 for those from Spain and Portugal.

This pattern, with the completed fertility of child migrants lying in-between that of ancestral Swedes and that of adult migrants, suggests a process of intergenerational adaptation. However, the picture is somewhat less clear for the transition to first birth, presented in the second part of Figure 1. Child migrants sometimes have an earlier transition to parenthood than do adult migrants (for eight of our origin groups), sometimes not (for at least five other groups). For adult migrants, however, the very experience of migration has probably interfered with the beginning of childbearing, which makes their transition to first birth very irregular, and hard to interpret. It is therefore probably better, in this case, to use only ancestral Swedes as a term of comparison: they had their first child at about 26 years.

Age at first birth for child migrants ranges between slightly above 23 years for Greece and Cyprus to slightly below 29 for East Asia. Eastern Europeans tend to have a late start (except for women from former Yugoslavia), while southern Europeans are more or less in line with ancestral Swedes, just a little younger. For most national groups, the difference with ancestral Swedes is small, which again suggests that adaptation is taking place.

Evidence of adaptation for quantum, tempo, or both? 

All in all, our results seem to mildly support the hypothesis of adaptation, in terms of both completed fertility and age at first birth. We admit, however, that exceptions are frequent, especially for adult migrants, whose patterns are also more difficult to interpret because the two processes (migration and fertility) overlap and influence each other.  

In the original article, we distinguished child migrants by age at arrival (0–5; 6–12; 13–17 years) and compared them also with the second generation, i.e. women born in Sweden to immigrant parents (Mussino, Wilson and Andersson 2021). This further analysis, not reported here, reinforces the hypothesis of adaptation, perhaps more on timing than on quantum, although even in this case variability is high and patterns not always clear.

References

Kulu, H., & González-Ferrer, A. (2014). Family dynamics among immigrants and their descendants in Europe: Current research and opportunities. European Journal of Population, 30, 411–435.

Mussino, E., Wilson, B. & Andersson, G. (2021). The fertility of immigrants from low fertility settings and their descendants: Adaptation in the tempo and quantum of childbearing. Demography 58 (6): 2169–2191.Tønnesen, M., & Mussino, E. (2020). Fertility patterns of migrants from low-fertility countries in Norway. Demographic Research, 42, 859–874. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2020.42.31

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Family policy in Sweden is designed to strongly encourage parents (and especially women) to combine work and family formation. The parental leave system makes it profitable for people (women) to work before becoming a parent, and this results in a number of advantages for society: for instance, labour-force participation is very high (in general, and among mothers in particular), and child poverty is low (Ferrarini and Duvander 2010). However, for women who are unable to find stable employment before childbearing, the same system may have negative implications.

As those with the greatest difficulty in finding employment in Sweden are immigrant mothers, it may be worth investigating the differences in parental leave uptake between native and immigrant mothers, and the connection to labour market attachment. We do this by analysing the pattern of leave use over time for a sample of immigrant and native mothers of children born in the month of December, in the years 1997 to 2004.

Parental leave in Sweden

Parents residing in Sweden receive 480 days of paid leave per child. For the first 390 days, they receive about 80% of previous earnings and for the last 90 days they are paid at a flat rate (approximately 25 euro per day). Labour market legislation allows for job-protected leave for the child’s first 18 months and during any parental leave taken within 8 years of the birth (within 12 years since 2014), which is the time limit for using the leave. It is thus possible to extend days of leave over a longer period by mixing paid and unpaid days during the first 18 months, and using paid leave when the child is somewhat older.

Each parent receives half of the leave days, but days can be transferred between parents. However, since 1995, to ensure that rights are gender-neutral, a non-transferrable quota has been reserved for each parent (to encourage fathers to participate more in family life); during the observation period the quota was 1 month up to 2002, 2 months up to 2015, and 3 months since 2016. The sharing of leave uptake between parents is based on their knowledge of the system and the availability of family resources to meet their preferences.

Substantial differences persist between immigrant and native parents in the use of parental leave, due largely to the difficulties encountered by the immigrant population in the labour market. First, lower income entitles to a lower level of benefits. Second, if the parent is unemployed, he or she may be encouraged by the social welfare officer to use up all the parental leave before using unemployment benefits or other economic support. This restricts opportunities to take advantage of the system’s flexibility.

Results

In Sweden, immigrant mothers use more parental leave during the first year after childbirth compared with native mothers (who may use it later on):¹ among recent immigrants (up to 5 years in the country), for example, the median number of days used is 278, versus 228 among Swedes. This finding is in line with studies indicating that immigrants receive lower benefits during leave, and thus can less often afford to stay home without pay. By contrast, native mothers use a large share of the parental leave benefit days in the second year after childbirth (79 versus 42 for recent immigrants).

However, there is substantial variation in the immigrant group, and longer residency in Sweden makes the pattern more similar to that of native mothers, which points to the existence of a process of adaptation (at least, in parental leave use). Indeed, immigrants who have been in Sweden for more than 5 years use more leave during the second (as opposed to the first) year after childbirth, similarly to native mothers.

In addition, as origin is strongly associated with the cause of migration, a plausible underlying factor for variations between groups is that some women more often immigrate for work reasons (e.g. women from other Nordic countries) while others do so for family reasons or as refugees (e.g. women from the Middle East). The difference in leave use between groups may also be affected by lack of knowledge of the various parental leave regulations, especially the different options for flexibility.

When mothers’ labour market status is controlled for, the differences between immigrant groups diminish. Both native and immigrant mothers quite often use just a few days, but their reasons are probably different. Among native mothers, using few days is likely to be linked to a high level of household economic resources rather than to a situation of disadvantage. In couples with high household income, the woman is able to stretch the leave period by mixing paid parental leave benefit days with unpaid days. Thus, fewer days do not necessarily mean a short leave period. Among immigrant mothers, however, the use of just a few days is likely to reflect the fact that they cannot afford to take a longer (and poorly-paid) period of leave.

Policy recommendations

Even taking labour market status into account, immigrant women more often take many days of leave in the first year after birth and fewer in the second year. In short, immigrant women are less able to exploit the flexibility of the parental leave system, a disadvantage that is clearly linked to their weaker socio-demographic and economic characteristics, especially in the labour market. This suggests that the system needs to be improved, for instance, by providing information on rights and benefits to all parents in Sweden.

Even more importantly, as labour market participation is found to be crucial for leave use, attention must be focused upon the interaction between labour market and family policy. Our results show that immigrant mothers who participate in the labour market tend to use the leave in much the same way as native mothers do. This is especially important for groups who run the risk of marginalization, such as newly arrived immigrant parents. Thus, labour market integration is central to overall integration in Sweden, including when it comes to using family policy effectively.

References

Ferrarini, T., Duvander, A. (2010) Earner-carer model at the cross-roads: Reforms and outcomes of Sweden’s family policy in comparative perspective. International Journal of Health Services 40(3), 373-398.

Mussino E., Duvander A.-Z. (2016) Use it or save it? Migration background and parental leave uptake in Sweden. European Journal of Population, 32(2), 189-210 DOI: 10.1007/s10680-015-9365-x

Footnote

¹Our study was limited to the first three years after the birth, however.

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