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This paper examines the childbearing behaviour of Polish migrant women and their descendants in Sweden. Also considering stayers in the country of origin, we rely on a country-of-origin and country-of-destination approach in a careful examination regarding the relevance of three hypotheses on migrant fertility: the socialisation, selection, and adaptation hypotheses. We analyse the transitions to first and second births based on a piecewise exponential model, using Swedish register data and the Polish Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) first wave. The results support the socialisation hypothesis, as the Polish stayers and the first-generation Polish migrants have their first child at younger ages and are less likely to remain childless than the other groups but are also more likely to not proceed to a second child, unlike the Swedish natives and the second generation. We find partial support for the selection hypothesis. Descriptively, we observe signs of selection into migration based on education, cohort, and marital status. Additionally, our study shows that the impact of marriage varies between stayers and migrants, in the first-birth transition, suggesting selection into migration when it comes to unobserved characteristics as well. The adaptation hypothesis is also supported, as the fertility behaviour of the second generation more closely resembles that of the Swedish natives than that of the first generation and differs more from that of the Polish stayers in terms of both quantum and timing of the first and second births.

Immigrant women who have lived longer in a destination often have relatively low levels of fertility, which is sometimes taken as evidence of the adaptation of behavior. This evidence is almost exclusively based on studies of immigrants from high-fertility settings, while the fertility of immigrants from low-fertility settings has been largely overlooked. Research has also rarely studied the fertility of immigrants who migrated as children, despite the methodological advantages of applying such an approach. This study focuses on women who grew up in Sweden with a migration background from low-fertility origins. We expect that Sweden's welfare regime makes it easier for women to combine childbearing and working life, regardless of migration background, thereby facilitating an adaptation of fertility behavior toward that prevailing in Sweden. We find evidence of adaptation in terms of birth timing for at least half of the country-origin groups that we study, but very little evidence of adaptation in terms of completed fertility. Further, we find that, in comparison with ancestral Swedes, completed fertility differentials are larger for second-generation individuals than for immigrants who arrived during childhood. This is evidence against the notion of “straight-line” adaptation for immigrants and the children of immigrants who are born in Sweden.

IntroductionAdopting a social determinants of health perspective, this project aims to study how disproportionate COVID-19 mortality among immigrants in Sweden is associated with social factors operating through differential exposure to the virus (eg, by being more likely to work in high-exposure occupations) and differential effects of infection arising from socially patterned, pre-existing health conditions, differential healthcare seeking and inequitable healthcare provision.Methods and analysisThis observational study will use health (eg, hospitalisations, deaths) and sociodemographic information (eg, occupation, income, social benefits) from Swedish national registers linked using unique identity numbers. The study population includes all adults registered in Sweden in the year before the start of the pandemic (2019), as well as individuals who immigrated to Sweden or turned 18 years of age after the start of the pandemic (2020). Our analyses will primarily cover the period from 31 January 2020 to 31 December 2022, with updates depending on the progression of the pandemic. We will evaluate COVID-19 mortality differences between foreign-born and Swedish-born individuals by examining each mechanism (differential exposure and effects) separately, while considering potential effect modification by country of birth and socioeconomic factors. Planned statistical modelling techniques include mediation analyses, multilevel models, Poisson regression and event history analyses.Ethics and disseminationThis project has been granted all necessary ethical permissions from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2022-0048-01) for accessing and analysing deidentified data. The final outputs will primarily be disseminated as scientific articles published in open-access peer-reviewed international journals, as well as press releases and policy briefs.

Separation often leads to worse economic consequences for women than for men. However, little is known about how economic consequences of separation play out for different groups of women. Women who are younger than their male partner are generally assumed to have lesser agency, but evidence mostly comes from contexts with low gender equality. Here, we examine women's benefit recipiency as a function of the partner age gap of their dissolved union. Using register data from Sweden, we examine whether women from man-older unions suffer greater economic disadvantage after separation, and whether patterns differ for ancestral Swedes and women with migrant background. Results from logistic regression models suggest that, post-separation, the uptake of social and housing benefits increases for nearly all groups of women. However, these data do not show any consistent disadvantages of women from man-older unions. Among ancestral Swedes, patterns differed by benefit type, and among women of African/Middle Eastern origin, benefit recipiency increases were inversely U-shaped to the age gap. Social norms do not appear to explain economic costs of separation, but may explain why the risk of separation itself differed between ancestral Swedish women and women with migrant background.

Objectives In the present study, we examine whether the relationships between country of origin or reason for migration and mortality differ between men and women. Methods We apply hazard regression models on high-quality Swedish register data with nationwide coverage. Results Relative to their Swedish counterparts, migrants from Nordic and East European (EU) countries and former Yugoslavia have higher mortality. This excess mortality among migrants relative to Swedes is more pronounced in men than in women. Migrants from Western and Southern European countries; Iran, Iraq, and Turkey; Central and South America; and Asia, have lower mortality than Swedes, and the size of the mortality reduction is similar in both sexes. The predictive effects of the reason for migration for mortality are also similar in migrant men and women. Conclusions This study provides little support for the hypothesis of a double survival advantage among immigrant women in Sweden. However, it does show that the excess mortality in migrants from Nordic and EU countries and former Yugoslavia relative to the Swedish-born population is more pronounced in men than in women. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00038-019-01208-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The body of literature on the fertility of migrants in Europe has grown significantly in recent decades. The focus has mostly been on analysing their actual behaviours, and reflection on other crucial aspects extensively analysed in studies on natives has been lacking. In particular, differences between migrants’ reproductive decision-making process and that of natives are currently understudied in the European context. We will focus on the association between demographic and socio-economic characteristics and fertility intentions, comparing native Italian and migrant women in Italy. We apply logistic regression models to analyse factors associated with strong intentions to have a child (or positive fertility intention) and strong intentions not to have a child (or negative fertility intention) in the short term. We use data from the Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens survey on households with at least one foreign member and from the Italian Gender and Generation Survey, both carried out at the national level by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). Net of controlled covariates, migrant women have both higher positive and lower negative fertility intentions within a 3-year time frame than native women do. However, the patterns of fertility intentions are different for natives and migrants as a function of age, educational level, marital status, parity, homeownership and, notably, labour market status. Focusing only on migrant women, we observe that fertility intentions vary by age at arrival and time since migration and that there are significant differences by country and geographical area of birth.

In an increasingly interconnected world, the demographic effects of wars are not confined only to war zones and neighbouring areas; wars and conflicts may also change populations far away. Without the war in Syria under President Assad and the associated mass exodus of Syrian refugees, the population trends in distant countries like Sweden and Norway over the last few years would have been different. We create hypothetical scenarios of the population developments in Sweden and Norway without a war in Syria from 2011 onwards, where excess immigration due to the war and associated excess births are removed. The results indicate that population growth in 2016 would have been roughly 36% lower in Sweden and 26% lower in Norway without the Syrian war. The number of births in 2017 would have been about 3% lower in Sweden and 1% lower in Norway. One in ten municipalities would have had a population decline in 2016 instead of a population increase, and the largest immigrant group in Sweden by January 2019 would still be of Finnish origin.

A Correction to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s12134-020-00800-2

Background: Most research on migrant fertility focuses on immigrants from high-fertility countries who have moved to countries with lower fertility. Little is known about the fertility of immigrant women from countries where fertility is lower than in the destination country. Objective: This study investigates fertility rates among women from low-fertility countries who have moved to a country where fertility is comparatively higher (Norway). Methods: Register data on immigrant women from Poland, Lithuania, and Germany are used to calculate total fertility rates by duration of stay and to explore differences between family migrants and women who migrate for other reasons, between women of different ages at arrival, and between those who emigrated again and those who remained in Norway. Results: Among immigrants from low-fertility countries, total fertility rates are elevated in the first years after migration. This is particularly true for women from Poland and Lithuania, who often arrive as family migrants and at peak fertility age (25 to 34 years). Contribution: The fertility among migrants from low-fertility settings is often highest right after migration, particularly if they arrive as family migrants. Women with nonfamily reasons for migration have a time lag between immigration and peak fertility. The results underscore the usefulness of taking reason for and age at migration into account when studying immigrant fertility. This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), grant number 2018-00310, and the Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in the Social and Medical Sciences (SIMSAM), grant 340-2013- 5164, as well as Statistics Norway.

Fathers’ leave use is promoted in many countries, but so far with different success. Major explanations of different usage revolve around economic bargaining between parents and economic constraints in the household. By using extensive register data from 1999–2009 in Finland and Sweden, this study asks whether fathers’ use of parental leave in the two countries is determined by the same socioeconomic characteristics on the individual and the household level once we control for sociodemographic factors. Striking similarities in what influences fathers’ use of leave in the two contexts are found, even though leave is used at very different levels and the policy design differs remarkably. Generally, fathers with a similar income level to the mother use leave the most, but in high-income households the mother’s higher income leads to the highest propensity of fathers’ leave take-up. The results indicate that equal bargaining positions are associated with fathers’ leave use but also that mothers’ stronger position often facilitates fathers’ leave. We conclude that the role of gendered bargaining positions should be studied in interaction with the level of resources in the household.

This chapter analyzes multiple dimensions of demographic change of the Syrian-born population between 2010 and 2017 in Sweden. During this period, the Syrian-born population became the largest immigrant group, surpassing the Finnish-born that had previously been the largest immigrant group in the country for several decades. This chapter highlights the profound compositional shifts in age structure and educational level, among others, that the population underwent as a result of the infamous “Refugee Crisis”. What is clear from this demographic profile is that the Syrian-born population has already played a key role in the population change experienced in Sweden, and will continue to do so in the decades to come.

Summary: Background: Housing characteristics and neighbourhood context are considered risk factors for COVID-19 mortality among older adults. The aim of this study was to investigate how individual-level housing and neighbourhood characteristics are associated with COVID-19 mortality in older adults. Methods: For this population-based, observational study, we used data from the cause-of-death register held by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare to identify recorded COVID-19 mortality and mortality from other causes among individuals (aged ≥70 years) in Stockholm county, Sweden, between March 12 and May 8, 2020. This information was linked to population-register data from December, 2019, including socioeconomic, demographic, and residential characteristics. We ran Cox proportional hazards regressions for the risk of dying from COVID-19 and from all other causes. The independent variables were area (m2) per individual in the household, the age structure of the household, type of housing, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the borough, and neighbourhood population density. All models were adjusted for individual age, sex, country of birth, income, and education. Findings: Of 279 961 individuals identified to be aged 70 years or older on March 12, 2020, and residing in Stockholm in December, 2019, 274 712 met the eligibility criteria and were included in the study population. Between March 12 and May 8, 2020, 3386 deaths occurred, of which 1301 were reported as COVID-19 deaths. In fully adjusted models, household and neighbourhood characteristics were independently associated with COVID-19 mortality among older adults. Compared with living in a household with individuals aged 66 years or older, living with someone of working age (

L’objectif de cet article est d’examiner entre 1995 et 2010 le recours au conge parental chez les immigres peres d’un premier enfant en Suede. Cela permet notamment d’evaluer dans quelle mesure les politiques familiales permettent de favoriser l’integration, car cela reflete la participation au marche du travail et l’acceptation des normes d’egalite en termes de parentalite. A partir des donnees des registres suedois, cette etude montre que les peres immigres utilisent le conge parental, mais moins que les peres natifs de Suede, et repondent de facon inegale aux changements de politiques familiales. Cependant, la longueur du conge utilise par les peres immigres augmente en fonction de la duree de leur sejour en Suede, ce qui revele une adaptation aux comportements des peres natifs. Par ailleurs, les revenus ainsi que les caracteristiques de la mere sont des facteurs determinants du recours au conge parental des peres immigres.

The gender differences in labor force participation and take-up of parental leave are accentuated in immigrant populations. This study examines whether certain policy features of parental leave are ...

First published online: 14 November 2019 Estimating the number of individuals living in a country is an essential task for demographers. This study assesses the potential bias in estimating the size of different migrant populations due to over-coverage in population registers. Over-coverage-individuals registered but not living in a country-is an increasingly pressing phenomenon however, there is no common understanding of how to deal with over-coverage in demographic research. This study examines different approaches to and improvements in over-coverage estimation using Swedish total population register data. We assess over-coverage levels across migrant groups, test how estimates of age-specific death and fertility rates are affected when adjusting for over-coverage, and examine whether over-coverage can explain part of the healthy migrant paradox. Our results confirm the existence of over-coverage and we find substantial changes in mortality and fertility rates, when adjusted, for people of migrating age. Accounting for over-coverage is particularly important for correctly estimating migrant fertility. Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland [293103] Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [340-2013-5164] Swedish Research Council for Health, Working life and WelfareSwedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council for Health Working Life & Welfare (Forte)

In this study, we investigate whether immigrant parents hold sex preferences for children in Sweden, a country that promotes gender equality and where parental preference for having a girl prevails. By applying event-history models to Swedish register data, we investigate the transition to third birth by the sex composition of children born among immigrants. In particular, we examine whether women who come from countries with strong son-preference cultures accelerate their process of having a third child if their prior children are both girls. We pay particular attention to immigrants from China, Korea, India and the former Yugoslavia, where son preference culture has been well documented in the literature. Our results show that women from China, Korea, India and the former Yugoslavia are more likely to have a third child if they have two girls than if they have two boys or a boy and a girl. Interestingly, mothers from China, Korea and India tends to accelerate their process to get a son, whereas mothers from the former Yugoslavia do not hasten. Furthermore, the 1.5 generation and the immigrant mothers with a Swedish partner from China, Korea and India demonstrate a girl preference, as the native Swedes do, whereas the 1.5 generation immigrant mothers from the former Yugoslavia do not show any sign of adaptation.

Sweden is a welfare state with a family policy that strongly emphasizes equality without distinction by place of birth or gender. In this study, we investigate the differences in uptake of parental leave between native and immigrant mothers, and the connection to labour-market attachment. Sweden represents a unique case study, not only because of the strong effort to combine work and family for all women and men, the high level of fertility and the large presence of immigrants in the country; it also enables a detailed and sophisticated analysis based on the high-quality data derived from its population registers. We find that immigrant mothers use more parental leave benefit the first year after their child’s birth, but then fewer in the second year compared with native mothers. The differences diminish when labour-market activity is controlled for. Additionally, after a time in Sweden, immigrant mothers use leave more similarly to how native mothers do.

What happens when citizens from societies with strong son preference culture migrate to countries in which preference for having a child of each sex prevails? Using data from Swedish population registers, we investigate the sex ratio at birth by parity and the sex composition of previous children in Sweden. Our results showed that women with Chinese, Korean, and Indian background had a substantially elevated sex ratio at the third parity if previous children were both girls. Strikingly, this skewed ratio became less pronounced after 2000, suggesting a shift for a more neutral sex preference for children among these groups in the new century.

A substantial body of research has indicated that migrants enjoy better health and lower mortality compared to those born in the destination countries, the so called healthy migrant effect. Mortality differences in immigrants versus host population, however, differ by cause of death, country of birth, and the duration of stay in the host country. Recent research further suggests that a reason to migrate is an important factor explaining variations in health and survival advantage across migrant groups. If being an economic migrant plays a role in the selection process and results in better health outcomes compared to those who migrate for family reasons or as refugees, another aspect of migratory patterns, then order of migration is likely to be important to take into account when studying differences in health and survival across migrant groups and between the two genders. It has been shown that irrespective ofgender the earlier arriving spouses

This paper reviews the most recent literature on the fertility of migrant populations in Europe. In a systematic review of 21 peer-reviewed journals, we found that the literature has focused almost exclusively on actual behaviours related to the quantum and timing of births; it primarily investigates the determinants of demographic behaviour related to the structural integration of migrants. Previous literature on the demographic behaviour of migrants in Europe used factors related to culture more as a residual explanation for group differences, but it barely addressed their role specifically. The aim of our Special Issue is to draw attention to the normative side of fertility and to include aspects of reproductive health and family planning in the picture – both aspects are related to culture. This paper includes a short introduction to the articles contained in this Special Issue and proposes recommendations for future research., Comparative Population Studies, Vol 43 (2018)

Parental leave now or later? Immigrant women’s use of parental leave bene t Sweden is a welfare state with a family policy that strongly emphasizes equality without distinction according to place of birth or gender. In this study, we investigate the di erences in uptake of parental leave between native and immigrant women, and the connection to labour-market attachment. Sweden represents a unique case study, not only because of the strong e ort to combine work and family for all women and men, the high level of fertility and the large presence of immigrants in the country; it also enables a detailed and sophisticated analysis based on the high-quality data derived from its population registers. We nd that immigrant mothers use more parental leave bene t the rst year after their child’s birth, but then fewer in the second year compared to native women. e di erences diminish when labour-market status is controlled for. Additionally, after some time in Sweden, immigrant mothers use leave more similarly to how native mothers do. We conclude that labour-market status is the most decisive factor for parental leave use and we point out the relationship between labour market and family policy.

The use of parental leave by fathers varies notably between countries. However, the underlying reasons for cross-country differences have not been explicitly studied. We use migration between Finland and Sweden as an instrument to decompose the roles of policy design and social norms in the differences in take-up rates between these two countries. First, we inferred the role of policy by looking at fathers from the same country of origin in various policy contexts. Second, we deduced the role of norms by examining fathers who migrated at different ages and fathers with spouses of different origins. We find that the large cross-country differences in fathers’ use of parental leave between Finland and Sweden mainly stem from differences in policy design. Norms seem to play a smaller but still significant role.

The limited increase in fathers&rsquo, involvement in childcare tasks in response to the unprecedented rise in female labour market participation illustrates the incomplete nature of the gender revolution. Available research provides evidence for micro-economic mechanisms and the influence of gender norms and social policy design on couples&rsquo, gendered divisions of parental leave, but knowledge on how national level contexts shape partners&rsquo, agency remains limited. Hence, comparative research from different national contexts is needed. This paper examines the association between fathers&rsquo, pre-birth income and workplace characteristics, and whether they take up parental leave after the birth of their first child in Belgium and Sweden by using detailed longitudinal register data from Sweden and Belgium. Results show that, whereas an opportunity cost logic seems to underlie fathers&rsquo, parental leave decisions in Belgium, gender equality in contributing to the household income yields the highest probability of fathers&rsquo, parental leave uptake in Sweden. Furthermore, in Sweden, fathers&rsquo, employment characteristics are more strongly associated with whether fathers&rsquo, take leave longer than the quota than whether fathers take any leave at all. The different mechanisms in Belgium and Sweden suggest that the design of leave policies and the broader normative and institutional national level context moderate couples&rsquo, parental leave uptake decisions.

In Italy, the existing literature on the link between low fertility and people's socio-economic status has been surprisingly silent about the potential role of housing. This study aimed at filling this gap. Are Italians who are better off in terms of housing security more likely to plan to have a first child in the short run? Our results suggest that there is a clear positive gradient between the fertility intentions of couples and the degree to which they feel secure about their housing situation. The positive gradient remained substantial after we controlled for the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the couple and after we adjusted the estimates for the presence of unobserved characteristics and we took into account the endogeneity between housing and fertility. This implies that, in Italy, the housing dimension should not be disregarded when studying fertility differentials. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper, we contribute to the analysis of fertility differentials between female migrants and the native-born by examining the transition to first child using event history analysis. We use event history as a quantitative translation of the life-course approach. The data examined are the Italian Families and Social Subjects (FSS) survey, conducted in 2003, and the Russian Parents and Children, Men and Women in Family and Society survey, conducted in 2004. We examine the data sets separately and contrast the results. The objective of the study is twofold. First, we seek to determine whether differences exist in the decision and timing of childbearing between native and immigrant women in Italy and in Russia. Second, we aim to compare the experiences of immigrants in the two countries, to determine whether there may be any commonalities inherent to the immigrant populations despite moving into widely different contexts. Our results suggest that the age profiles and marital status similarly affect the immigrant regardless of whether she is migrating to Russia or to Italy. In Italy, educational attainment is positively correlated with first-birth intensities for immigrants – the opposite of what is observed for the native-born. In Russia, education is not a significant determinant for immigrants. This leads us to the following conclusion: the similarity in the risk profiles of our immigrants into vastly different country contexts is more suggestive of immigrants following a distinct life course, with common risk profiles for bearing their first child, than assimilating or conforming to the native fertility patterns. Social capital in particular may play a different role in determining fertility patterns for immigrants, as it does for the native-born.

In this article we investigate the propensities to have the second child in Italy for foreign women from Albania, Morocco, and Romania. Our study contributes to the international debate on migrant fertility by testing the main competing hypotheses present in literature, using the Italian case as an illustration. Italy is an important case study because it has been a country of immigration for only a few decades and because the literature on this topic was limited in Italy by the difficulties in obtaining proper longitudinal data. An important component of our work was therefore to build a new data set, using record linkage procedures that allow us to improve the information from Survey on Birth and Resident Permit Registers and to study the individual childbearing trajectories. Our results confirm the importance of the mother's citizenship. The impact remains strong after controlling for the main demographic and migratory characteristics. We found that older cohorts experience a disruption effect but that a native Italian partner can promote an adaptation process such as a convergence in fertility behavior toward that of native Italian women. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

In Italy, foreign children are often enrolled in classes at a lower grade than that of their age group (what we term in this article 'delayed school progress'), mainly because of language problems. On their education pathway they also encounter more difficulties than their Italian schoolmates, as evidenced by the smaller numbers of successful exam results. This brings about a widespread delay in their schooling, which grows as the education levels increase. In this paper we seek to identify the causes of this delay using data from a national survey (ITAGEN2) involving more than 20,000 lower-secondary-school students, half of whom are foreigners. The risk of such delay for the children of immigrants remains significant, even with equal resources and commitment, equal socio-economic and housing conditions of the family and relations with their peers. This clearly indicates that the integration problems experienced by immigrants' children in the Italian school system can negatively influence their subsequent schooling progress and reduce their opportunities for social mobility in the labour market and a positive insertion in Italian society. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Background and objective: One of the chief causes of death in patients with β-thalassemia major (TM) remains heart failure due to iron overload. We investigated possible differences in myocardial function between a population of young asymptomatic patients with TM and healthy controls all of whom underwent an echocardiographic study, including tissue Doppler (TDI) and strain imaging (SI) analysis and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: 30 young asymptomatic patients with TM (16 taking deferoxamine and 14 taking deferiprone) and 30 healthy subjects underwent a cardiac MRI with T2* technique and an echocardiographic evaluation including systolic myocardial velocities (Sm), early (Em) and late (Am) diastolic velocities and systolic strain (S) at the level of basal segments of the lateral left ventricle (LV), interventricular septum (Septal) and lateral right ventricle (RV) wall. The differences in T2* values and echocardiographic parameters were also compared in patients with TM subgrouped according to iron chelation therapy. Results: The following TDI and SI measures were lower in patients than in controls: LV-Sm (P