Emigration of family migrants in Sweden

Andreas Raneke, Statistics Sweden

This study aims to describe the emigration of persons who migrated to Sweden due to family ties. Their first move to Sweden may not be of socioeconomic reasons but rather to live with a partner and/or family. The reasons for emigration might then also be of other factors than their labor market success but rather due to their family situation. For this reason, this study aims to investigate if there is a relationship between family situation and emigration. This is done by means of a survival analysis using Swedish register data on immigrants who arrived during 1998 to 2007. The analysis is carried out for two groups; family migrants that were in a relationship at immigration and those who were single. Similar to other studies on migration and family status, the results show that a change in family status for those who were in a relationship upon immigration involves a greater likelihood to emigrate. If the person who immigrated for family reasons has separated from that partner he or she was in a relationship with at the time of immigration, the risk to emigrate is considerably higher compared with those who are still in a relationship. This applies particularly to women. For those women who are single upon immigration, a change in family status, i.e. that they form a relationship in Sweden, involves a generally lower risk to emigrate compared with those who remained single. This is true regardless if the woman remains in a relationship, has separated or if her partner has emigrated.