Fertility Differentials across Race-Ethnicity and Generational Status: Incorporating Non-Hispanic Immigrants

Marta Alvira-Hammond, Bowling Green State University

The higher fertility of Hispanics, particularly foreign-born Hispanics, contributes to higher overall U.S. fertility, yet increasing immigration from Asia and Africa, combined with the generally young ages of immigrants, suggests that more information is needed on the fertility of non-Hispanic immigrants. In this research, we use the June Fertility Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) to look at the mean number of children across white, black, Hispanic, and Asian women aged 35-44 by generational status. Preliminary results suggest that Hispanic and Asian first-generation women have higher fertility than subsequent generations, and black and Hispanic first-generation women have higher fertility than their white counterparts. Only Asian women demonstrate declining fertility across generations; Hispanic women’s fertility falls from the first to second generation but increases from the second to third generation. Planned analyses will use multiple years of the CPS, explore variation by nationality, and examine the contributions of compositional differences.