Fertility Ideals among Migrant Women in Europe: Cross-Country and Migrant Generational Differences

Carmen Friedrich , Federal Institute for Population Research
Nadja Milewski, Federal Institute for Population Research

Research on migrant fertility has mainly focused on reproductive behavior, while variation in the ideational dimension across migrant generations and European countries remains underexplored. Fertility ideals—less constrained by structural or economic factors than actual behavior—may better capture migrants’ alignment with destination-country norms. Using data from the Generations and Gender Survey Round II (2020–2024) for seven European countries, this study examines differences in fertility ideals among first- and second-generation migrant and native women. Two hypothetical fertility indicators are analyzed: The personal ideal refers to individual preference. The general ideal reflects the societal norm. Poisson regression models controlling for sociodemographic and migration-related factors estimate associations between country of residence and fertility ideals. Descriptive findings show that two children are the most common ideal across all groups. Migrants more often report an ideal of three or more children than natives, and second-generation migrants more often than first-generation migrants. Second-generation migrants closely resemble natives’ country-patterns, while first-generation migrants show less alignment. Regression results indicate that adaptation to fertility norms in the destination country is evident only for general ideals and more for second-generation migrants. These findings align with classic assimilation theories for migrant generations and support the hypothesis that the comparative integration context is crucial for migrant integration. Our study suggests that societal norms shape migrants’ perceptions of ideal family size more than personal preferences, and part of the observed adaptation in actual fertility behavior found in previous studies may reflect structural or migration-related constraints rather than changes in underlying personal ideals.

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 Presented in Session 111. Migrant Populations and Assimilation over Generations