A New Look at the Recent Fertility of American Immigrants, Results for 21st Century

Gray Swicegood, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Michael Sobczak, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Hiromi Ishizawa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The fertility dynamics of foreign-born women impact overall population growth and the racial, ethnic, linguistic, and generational composition of the country. Here we consider the patterns of recent fertility among immigrant women along the dimensions of national origin, education, geographic settlement, and linguistic behavior using data from the 2000-2004 American Community Survey. We estimate a total fertility rate among foreign-born women that is nearly 30% higher than that of native-born women, but also observe a wide array of period fertility rates across national origins subgroups. The processes associated with the marital and non-marital fertility of immigrant women are distinct. Our results point to the value of adopting a more life-course oriented approach with greater attention to the context of pathways to marriage and motherhood alike.