Causas de las desigualdades territoriales en la fecundidad: un estudio a escala metropolitana en el área barcelonesa

Abstract

Demographic behaviour within metropolitan areas is increasingly spatially segmented, and fertility is a good example of this, as its growing spatial diff erences would depend on the type of metropolitan municipality analysed. The article’s main hypothesis is that fertility level diff erences would mainly be explained by selective internal migration flows associated to young couples’ life cycle. Alternative hypotheses are that fertility diff erences between municipalities could be explained by the share of foreign women living in them, o by disposable household income diff erences. In order to verify these hypotheses, the article analyses Barcelona Metropolitan Region’s intra-metropolitan fertility. A preliminary descriptive analysis –total fertility rates (TFR) for 26 metropolitan subareas have been calculated– is completed by linear regression models for years 2001 and 2009. Results confirm that fertility diff erences are partly explained by young Spanish couples’ internal migration flows towards small and medium suburban localities, but also by specific foreign groups, particularly Africans.