Volume 33 - Article 2 | Pages 31–64  

Marriage and divorce of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in Sweden

By Gunnar Andersson, Ognjen Obućina, Kirk Scott

This article is part of the Special Collection 18 „Partnership dynamics among immigrants and their descendants in Europe“

Abstract

Background: Immigrants and their second-generation descendants make up more than a quarter of the current Swedish population. Their nuptiality patterns can be viewed as crucial indicators of their integration into Swedish society.

Objective: This study provides data on levels of and patterns in marriage formation, divorce, and re-marriage of people in Sweden, by country of origin.

Methods: The study is based on analyses of longitudinal register data that cover all residents born in 1951 and later who ever lived in Sweden during 1983−2007. Kaplan-Meier survivor functions demonstrate levels in nuptiality; multivariate event-history analyses demonstrate relative risks of marriage formation and divorce, by country group of origin.

Results: We find evidence of variation among immigrant groups and between migrants and Swedish-born people in marriage and divorce patterns. A few groups of migrants have relatively high churning rates in family dynamics, with high levels of marriage formation, divorce, and re-marriage.

Conclusions: Many factors relate to the nuptiality behavior of immigrants in Sweden. Differences in family systems seem to have some influence on behavior in the contemporary Swedish context. Other factors relate to the migration process itself and to the selectivity of migrants to Sweden.

Author’s Affiliation

• Gunnar Andersson - Stockholms Universitet, Sweden EMAIL
• Ognjen Obućina - Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED), France EMAIL
• Kirk Scott - Lunds Universitet, Sweden EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Depressed fertility among descendants of immigrants in Sweden
Volume 36 - Article 39

Childbearing dynamics of couples in a universalistic welfare state: The role of labor-market status, country of origin, and gender
Volume 17 - Article 30

Lives saved, lives lost, and under-reported COVID-19 deaths: Excess and non-excess mortality in relation to cause-specific mortality during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden
Volume 50 - Article 1

Disentangling the Swedish fertility decline of the 2010s
Volume 47 - Article 12

Co-ethnic marriage versus intermarriage among immigrants and their descendants: A comparison across seven European countries using event-history analysis
Volume 39 - Article 17

Mixed marriages between immigrants and natives in Spain: The gendered effect of marriage market constraints
Volume 39 - Article 1

Life-table representations of family dynamics in the 21st century
Volume 37 - Article 35

Occupational trajectories and occupational cost among Senegalese immigrants in Europe
Volume 28 - Article 19

Economic Uncertainty and Family Dynamics in Europe: Introduction
Volume 27 - Article 28

Labor-market status, migrant status and first childbearing in Sweden
Volume 27 - Article 25

High Suburban Fertility: Evidence from Four Northern European Countries
Volume 21 - Article 31

Cohort fertility patterns in the Nordic countries
Volume 20 - Article 14

Migration and first-time parenthood: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
Volume 17 - Article 25

Understanding parental gender preferences in advanced societies: Lessons from Sweden and Finland
Volume 17 - Article 6

Educational attainment and ultimate fertility among Swedish women born in 1955-59
Volume 14 - Article 16

Education and childlessness: The relationship between educational field, educational level, and childlessness among Swedish women born in 1955-59
Volume 14 - Article 15

Social differentials in speed-premium effects in childbearing in Sweden
Volume 14 - Article 4

Demographic trends in Sweden: An update of childbearing and nuptiality up to 2002
Volume 11 - Article 4

A summary of Special Collection 3: Contemporary Research on European Fertility: Perspectives and Developments
Volume 10 - Article 13

Children's experience of family disruption and family formation: Evidence from 16 FFS countries
Volume 7 - Article 7

Life-table representations of family dynamics in Sweden, Hungary, and 14 other FFS countries: A project of descriptions of demographic behavior
Volume 7 - Article 4

Fertility developments in Norway and Sweden since the early 1960s
Volume 6 - Article 4

Demographic trends in Sweden: Childbearing developments in 1961-2000, marriage and divorce developments in 1971-1999
Volume 5 - Article 3

Childbearing Developments in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from the 1970s to the 1990s: A Comparison
Special Collection 3 - Article 7

Contemporary Research on European Fertility: Introduction
Special Collection 3 - Article 1

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