Residential Context, Migration and Fertility

Hill Kulu, University of Liverpool

This study examines fertility variation by residential context. While there is a large literature on fertility determinants in industrialised countries, little research has investigated spatial fertility variation. We study fertility variation across regions with different size and within urban regions by distinguishing between central cities and suburbs of the cities. We use longitudinal data from Britain and apply event history analysis. We investigate to what extent do the socio-economic characteristics of couples and selective migrations explain fertility variation between residential contexts and to what extent do contextual factors play a role. We also study childbearing behaviour of people who move from one residential context to another. Our analysis shows that fertility levels decline as the size of an urban area increases; within urban regions suburbs have significantly higher fertility levels than the city centres.