Migration and the Partner Market: How Gender-Selective Relocations Affect Regional Mating Chances in Germany

The study explores the consequences of gender-selective internal migration for regional mating chances in Germany, comparing different cohorts as well as different types of regions. Indicators of the partner market based on time series of the official German regional population statistics are combined with indicators of migration and on regional economic, educational, and settlement structures. Instead of the simple sex ratio, which is the standard measure for partner market conditions in previous research, the study at hand uses the availability ratio suggested by Goldman et al. (Popul Index 50(1):5-25, 1984). The availability ratio takes into account that partner markets are structured by age preferences. Like previous studies, results show that gender-selective migration has led to a strong deterioration of mating chances for men in most eastern districts of Germany. Exceptions are districts offering universities as well as a large tertiary sector. But, unlike previous research, results also show that migration-caused imbalances of the partner market in eastern German districts are not extraordinarily high. In the western part of Germany, there were at times even stronger partner market imbalances for some male cohorts as a consequence of oscillating birth rates.