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REMITTANCES AND FERTILITY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD: A BIBLIOMETRIC REVIEW OF EMERGING DEMOGRAPHIC–ECONOMIC PATHWAYS
Abstract
While remittances are well-studied economically, their demographic impact on fertility remains neglected. This paper examines how global remittance flows shape fertility dynamics and contribute to the economic and development dimension of demographic globalization. We conduct a bibliometric and co-keyword analysis of 32 peer-reviewed studies covering publications up to 2025 indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection, mapping thematic clusters, country participation and co-citation networks. Five clusters are identified, spanning household remittance–fertility behavior, labor migration and gender, migration–development linkages, inequality and growth, and broader demographic processes. Publication output has increased steadily, with a shift from narrow economic determinants toward multidimensional frameworks that integrate gender, culture and policy. Research is concentrated in high-income settings, particularly the United States, Switzerland and several Western and Southern European countries, while evidence from many high-remittance low- and middle-income origin countries remains limited. These patterns suggest that remittances act not only as financial transfers but also as vectors of sociocultural diffusion that can reshape fertility norms and support demographic convergence. These results have implications for migration and development policy, suggesting that remittance-related measures should account for both economic and normative channels through which migration reshapes demographic futures. The analysis is limited to English-language articles indexed in a single database and, as a bibliometric study, captures structural patterns rather than causal effects.
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