A Study on Fertility Differentials between Koreans and International Marriage Families

Abstract

This article attempts to unveil fertility differentials between Koreans and international marriage families in South Korea. We fit the 2009 National Survey on Multicultural Families and the 2009 National Survey on Marriage and Fertility Dynamics to Cox proportional hazards model and log normal model. Results show that there was no distinguishable difference in hazards of first and second childbirth between Koreans and international marriage families but an enhanced hazards of third childbirth for international marriage families compared to Koreans. In addition, we notice statistically significant differences in fertility relying on whether international marriage family was formed of foreign-born wife or foreign-born husband. International marriage families with foreign-born husband exhibited significantly lower fertility for first and second childbirth than international marriage families with foreign-born wife and Koreans while there was no difference between the latter two groups. However, both types of international marriage families were at higher risk of third childbirth than Koreans.