Family patterns of immigrants and their descendants in the UK

Dr Júlia Mikolai and Professor Hill Kulu have been studying the interrelationship between partnership and fertility trajectories of immigrants and their descendants in the UK. They have found that family patterns have remained relatively stable across migrant generations and birth cohorts. Here we take a closer look at some of the emerging research from the MigrantLife project.

In many European countries, the share of immigrants and their descendants has increased. In the UK, for example, the share of foreign-born individuals has grown from 8 per cent of the population in 2004 to 14 per cent in 2019 (Office for National Statistics, 2019). Demographic research on immigrant families in Europe has also grown significantly over this period. Whether immigrants exhibit partnership patterns similar to the native-born, and whether and how partnership patterns differ across migrant generations, have become key questions of this research.

Previously, studies have analysed partnership changes and fertility separately, but in their recent study, Dr Mikolai and Professor Kulu have used a multistate eventhistory approach, which allows for the joint analysis of repeated partnership and fertility transitions and the incorporation of different ‘clocks’. No previous study has been done in this way.

Family patterns have remained relatively stable across migrant generations and birth cohorts. Our findings highlight that families in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. Policymakers need to recognise this diversity and develop policies that will support the well-being of different families.

The findings show that partnership and fertility behaviors among European immigrants and their descendants are similar to that of natives (defined as UK-born with two UK-born parents): many live together first and then have children and/or marry. Those from South Asian countries tend to marry first and then have children. Women from the Caribbean region have the most varied partnership and fertility patterns: some have births outside unions, some form a union and have children afterwards.

Dr Mikolai comments: “Family patterns have remained relatively stable across migrant generations and birth cohorts. Our findings highlight that families in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. Policymakers need to recognise this diversity and develop policies that will support the wellbeing of different families.”

This research forms part of the MigrantLife project which investigates how employment, housing and family trajectories evolve and interact in the lives of immigrants and their descendants in the UK, France, Germany and Sweden. It also examines how differences in societal context, early life and critical transitions shape life histories. The project aims to show whether differences between and within immigrant and minority groups vanish over time or rather persist, suggesting an increasing diversity of European societies.

CPC Co-Director, Professor Hill Kulu, is the project’s lead: “Support from the European Research Council provides the opportunity to answer one of the fundamental questions in migration research in industrialised countries – whether the current differences observed between immigrants and natives in employment, housing and family patterns are shortterm outcomes in a long-term process of cultural and economic integration, or rather reflections of different pathways and outcomes for immigrants and their descendants.”

He continues: “The intra-group variation in marriage patterns among the Caribbean population in the UK provides a good example. It is unclear whether these variances reflect cultural diversity or socioeconomic inequalities; and whether it is a temporary phase in the long-term cultural and economic integration or rather a sign of persisting socio-ethnic segments within British society.”

You can follow updates from the project on Twitter @MigrantLife_ERC

Further reading

The intersection of partnership and fertility trajectories of immigrants and their descendants in the United Kingdom: A multilevel multistate event history approach (MigrantLife Working Paper 3)

First comes marriage or first comes carriage? Family trajectories for immigrants in Germany (MigrantLife Working Paper 4)

Family behavior of migrants: An overview (MigrantLife Working Paper 2)

Interaction between childbearing and partnership changes among immigrants and their descendants: An application of multichannel sequence analysis to longitudinal data from France (MigrantLife Working Paper 1)