Abstract:
Large scale rural-urban migration has coincided with an apparent slowdown
in Vietnams fertility decline. During the period 1999-2004, rural fertility
continued to decline slowly while the urban fertility decline stalled. Some
government officials are concerned that rural-urban migrants, particularly
temporary migrants, may have been having out-of-plan births which are not
allowed under the two-child population policy. This study examines the
relationship between rural-urban migration and fertility in Vietnam. The analysis
considers two questions: (i) Do rural-urban migrants have higher fertility than
urban non-migrants? and (ii) Do temporary migrants have higher fertility than
permanent migrants?
The study used data obtained from the Vietnam Migration Survey
conducted in 2004. The areas selected for the survey were geographically
distributed throughout the country. The first analysis compared the number of
children aged 0-4 between rural-urban migrants and urban non-migrants. The
second analysis contrasted the number of specific-order births born after migration
of temporary and permanent migrants. Both analyses applied logistic regression
models with the same set of control variables.
The first analysis finds significantly lower fertility among migrants
compared to non-migrants. Migrants appear to delay their fertility partly because
of adaptation to the urban norm of lower fertility, but mainly because of household
registration effects. The second analysis indicates that temporary migrants have a
significantly lower probability of having a first birth than permanent migrants.
There is no difference in probability of having a second and third or higher order
birth among migrants. Temporary migrants are no more likely than permanent
migrants to exceed the governments target of two births.
The results suggest that increased rural-urban migration is not slowing
down the national fertility decline. Rural-urban migration is likely to have a
negative relationship with fertility.