Professor Julia Behrman publishes report on immigrant fertility in France

Northwestern Assistant Professor Julia Behrman of the department of sociology led the project on “Collaborative Research: Migration and Fertility” with Abigail Weitzman, faculty at UT Austin, that examines how migration to a different country affects the fertility of African women in France.

“Understanding whether migration is associated with changes in fertility requires a multisite approach that includes data on individuals in both sending and receiving countries,” Behrman said. “However, most knowledge about migrant fertility is based on analyses where researchers compare migrants to women in the destination country. As a result, understandings of the association between migration and fertility may be incomplete.”

The subsequent report finds that African women who immigrate to France have, on average, fewer children than women in their home countries. It also concludes that the disparity is even larger when migrants are compared to women in rural areas of their home countries. Research suggests that differences in women’s contraceptive use provide reasoning for the significant change.

Learn more about Behrman’s project and report in the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) article, “African Women Who Migrate to France Have Fewer Children.”