Fertility of immigrants and their descendants in Spain: intergenerational convergence to the native population’s behaviour?

Abstract We study the fertility patterns of first, 1.5, and second-generation immigrants in Spain, analysing a database linking the 2012–15 birth registers to the 2011 census. While first-generation Latin American immigrants have a lower fertility level than the native population, the 1.5 generation arriving between the ages of 9 and 17 years have a higher level. Both the 1.5 generation arriving younger than 9 years and the second generation closely follow the native population’s fertility level. The first and 1.5 generations of Maghrebi immigrants have a much higher fertility level than the native population, and the second generation maintains a slightly higher level. The impact that age, labour market participation, and educational attainment have on the second generation’s level is closer to the Spanish population than among the first generation. Selection and disruption hypotheses help to explain the fertility of Latin American immigrants, while socialization and interrelation of events hypotheses do so for Maghrebi immigrants.