Interview • 27.10.2023Fertility and family dynamics of migrated persons

The conference organisers: Dr Elisabeth K. Kraus (BiB) and Dr Eleonora Mussino (Stockholm University). Dr. Nadja Milewski (BiB) is missing. Source: Elisabeth K. Kraus

On 12 and 13 October 2023, an international scientific conference of the European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR), the European Association for Population Studies (EAPS) and the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) took place in Wiesbaden on various topics related to fertility, partnership and family of migrants in different countries.

The conference was organised by BiB researchers Dr. Elisabeth K. Kraus and Dr. Nadja Milewski and Dr. Eleonora Mussino from Stockholm University Demography Unit (Sweden).

A total of around 50 researchers from Germany, various European countries and Canada took part in the conference. It was already the third international conference organised by the EAPS Working Group "Fertility and Family Dynamics in Migrant and Minority Groups". In the interview, Dr. Kraus talks about the topics of the conference contributions and sums up the event.

Dr. Kraus, which research topics were the focus of the conference contributions?

The seven thematic sessions dealt with very different aspects of migration, integration, family dynamics and fertility intentions and behaviour. The influence of family policy measures on migrants' fertility decisions was also examined. What influence can sudden external shocks, such as the corona pandemic or the war against Ukraine, have on the family dynamics of immigrants and natives? This topic was also the focus of the conference.

With a view to the immigration situation in Germany, my colleague from the BiB, Dr. Andreas Backhaus, together with a team of scientists, has studied the fertility development of refugees before and after their arrival in Germany. Their preliminary results show that the birth rate among the female refugees studied initially remained stable before migration, then increased shortly after arrival and finally declined again with longer stay.

In your own conference paper, together with Dr. Nadja Milewski, you investigated the role of partnership and childbearing behaviour among refugees from Eritrea and Syria before and after their arrival in Germany. What changes did you notice?

On the basis of our quantitative BiB survey "Forced Migration and Transnational Family Arrangements - Eritrean and Syrian Refugees in Germany" (TransFAR), we have shown that the family situation, i.e. the partnership status and also the number of children already born, before and during the flight, is decisive for fertility behaviour in the destination country. We also know that the migration of refugees can often last several months or even years, and that this is naturally also reflected in the fertility behaviour of these people. This applies to a greater extent to female respondents compared to male respondents. But different contexts of origin are also decisive.

What do you see as the main messages of this conference?

On the one hand, it became clear that current global developments and events such as the corona pandemic or the Ukraine war have already found their way into research on fertility and migration. On the other hand, looking at research in other countries is also helpful and instructive for our own work. With the topic of flight and migration, almost all receiving countries are confronted with the question of integration and participation of refugees. Of course, the fertility behaviour of refugees also plays an important role in this, as became clear in numerous presentations.

Most of the research on refugees has so far dealt with questions of labour market integration or educational participation. Increased refugee migration has changed global migration patterns - away from individual labour migration to the migration of entire families. The issue of family reunification has also gained in importance. Thus, there is now great scientific interest in researching the family dynamics and thus also the fertility behaviour of refugees.