The intersection of fertility, partnership dynamics, and residential mobility amongst immigrants and their descendants in France

Life course transitions such as partnership change, childbearing, and residential mobility tend to be studied in isolation. This study examines how the propensity of these events differs between immigrants, their descendants, and the native population in France using a holistic life course approach. We apply competing-risks event history models to longitudinal administrative data from the French Permanent Demographic Sample. We study three life course domains simultaneously for those aged 16-45 between 2012 and 2019. First, we estimate the overall intensity of experiencing any life course event. Second, we compare the propensity of births, partnership changes, and residential relocations within a unified competing-risks framework, enabling direct comparison across events, generations, and origin groups.

Results show that immigrants experience fewer life course events than natives, while second-generation individuals exhibit higher intensities than the first generation but remain below native levels. Residential relocation is the most common transition across all groups; however, immigrants and their descendants are consistently less mobile than natives, with limited convergence across generations. Fertility displays strong origin-specific differences: immigrants from North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and Turkey have elevated birth risks that decline substantially in the second generation, though fertility remains slightly higher among individuals of Turkish and North African origin. Partnership dynamics show convergence across generations, with most second-generation groups resembling natives. Overall, the findings point to partial behavioural assimilation, revealing that social integration is likely influenced by cultural norms and structural constraints.