The Fertility of Immigrants from Muslim Majority Countries: Evidence of Assimilation across Decimal Generations

Catherine D. Tucker, Pennsylvania State University
Conrad Hackett, Pew Research Center

This paper investigates the differential fertility of immigrants from Muslim majority countries across regions by age of arrival to the United States. We discover patterns linked to fertility in the country of origin, including extremely high fertility for immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. We further examined the extent to which Muslim context played a role in this high level of fertility by comparing the fertility of immigrants from Christian majority countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to that of immigrants from Muslim majority countries. Our evidence suggests that educational selection plays a significant role in explaining the differences in immigrant fertility from the different religious contexts of this region.