The Effects of Australia's Migration Program on Immigrant Fertility Over Time

Immigration to low fertility countries provides both needed labour and demographic growth. As immigrants often arrive as young adults, they may also contribute to population growth in the destination country through their births. In this research, we assembled data from quinquennial censuses and annual birth registers to analyse fertility amongst immigrants in Australia. We use these data to compare the number of births to immigrant women to Australian-born women. These data are also used to describe 35 years of changes that have occurred in Australia by tracking the age-specific fertility patterns of 18 different immigrant groups in Australia from 1981 to 2016. We find that age-specific fertility rates of immigrants have become more similar to those exhibited by the Australia-born population over time. Across immigrant groups and destinations in Australia, however, we find differences in both the levels and trends over time.