Health status and fertility intentions among migrants

The role of health has never entered the debate about migrant fertility. The main goal of this work was to explore, for the first time, the relationship between health and fertility intentions among migrants by gender, duration of stay and parity. Three health measures were considered: self-rated health, the presence of chronic illnesses and mental health. We compiled data from the Italian survey "Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens" and employed generalized ordered logistic models to test the relationship between health and fertility intentions among migrants. Our findings show that poor health negatively affects migrants’ fertility intentions, net of a wide array of control variables (including employment and reason for migration). This is especially true among long-term migrant women, and, among the latter, the effect is strongest when chronic illnesses and mental health are considered. We encourage future research to consider health in the demographic debate about migrant fertility.