The Effect of Community Migration on Women’s Marriage and Fertility in High Migrant Sending States in Mexico

Kari White, University of Texas at Austin
Joseph E. Potter, University of Texas at Austin

Using the 2000 Mexican Census, we examined the effect of increasing levels of household migration on women’s marriage and fertility in municipalities from seven traditional sending states. We calculated age-specific fertility rates and the proportion of women living in conjugal unions by level of migration in the municipalities. At higher migration levels, we found lower fertility rates among reproductive-aged women. This was accounted for by a lower proportion of women living in conjugal unions as there were no differences in marital fertility. We then used a municipal-level fixed-effects model to assess how variation in the proportion of men was associated with women’s marital status. The absence of men was associated with a lower proportion of women living in union. Finally, we found that the residual fixed-effects were correlated with the level of migration, suggesting migration has an effect on women’s marriage beyond its demographic impact on the marriage market.