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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.Keywords Regional studies Á Internal migration Á Marriage market Á Marriage squeeze Á East Germany Á Availability ratio Á Sex ratio In many industrialized countries, there is an overproportional migration of women from rural into urban regions (for Norway: Dahlström 1996; Spain: Camarero and Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Even in the online dating era, individuals will seek intimate partners who live physically nearby. This paper considers the validity of different partner market measures in German NUTS‐3 regions; the often used sex ratio is contrasted with different versions of the availability ratio (AR) and versions of the partner market density (PMD). The paper discusses (a) how conceptional aspects of the partner market are reflected in the various indicators. Using aggregated population data provided by German statistical offices, (b) the partner market in Germany is described as measured by the different partner market indicators. Linking them to micro‐level data from the German Socio‐economic Panel, the paper (c) compares the effects of the various partner market measures on union formation. A simple sex ratio does not show variance over the life course or between cohorts, nor does it determine the rate of couple formation. The AR and PMD reveal more plausible distributions by age and cohort and higher criterion validity, especially when accounting for availableness according to marital status. With regard to men, the AR demonstrates the strongest impact on union formation; with regard to women, PMD seems more important.

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Referring to the dependence of income and occupational opportunities on education as well as to the lower compatibility between career and parenthood for women, educational differences of family foundation rates are being interpreted as an expression of different opportunity costs by many researchers (opportunity cost hypothesis). This hypothesis is discussed and analysed in this article for the German case drawing on the German Family Survey (Familiensurvey). The analysis considers two aspects of fertility motivation: on the one hand, it refers to educational level and the perceived value of children for (potential) parents; on the other, it examines the behavioural relevance of these fertility motivations. The empirical results from national representative longitudinal data question the opportunity cost hypothesis. Neither the perception of the incompatibility between career and motherhood nor its effect on the desire to become a parent are stronger for more highly educated women than for women with a lower formal educational level. Moreover, the article provides empirical evidence that the well-known educational differentiation of family formation rates is associated with child-related utility expectations, such as stimulation and affect.