Childcare among migrants: a comparison between Italy and France

Using the ‘Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizen’ survey (2011-2012) for Italy and the ‘Trajectoires et Origines’ survey (2008-2009) for France, we examined differences in the need for informal childcare and parental preferences in childcare (grandparents, other family and extra-family members) between migrants in Italy and France according to family demographic and socio-economic characteristics, migrants’ background and contextual factors. Results suggest that migrants’ choices and preferences are strongly affected by the household composition, mother occupational status and migrants’ country of origin. Furthermore, our results highlight the role played by the destination country, which can shape migrants’ choices and options. The use of informal childcare is higher for migrants in Italy than in France, even among the same origin areas.