Assignment #3 - Birth Rate and Ideology - Justine Lee

Does a high percentage of Catholicism actually have a correlation with a high birth rate or are there other variables (such as infant mortality, poverty levels) that appear to correlate more closely with birth rates than religious belief?

6 Nations with Catholic Percentages Higher than 65%

Mexico 
% of Catholics- 82.7%
Birth Rate- 18.61 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 4.94 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 16.26 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 76.96 years
Average Income- $12,732
Literacy Rate- 93.5%
Unemployment rate- 9.8%

Spain
% of Catholics- 94%
Birth Rate- 10.14 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 8.94 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 3.35 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 81.37 years
Average Income- $22,847
Literacy Rate- 97.7%
Unemployment rate- 25.1%

Italy
% of Catholics- 80%
Birth Rate- 8.94 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 10.01 deaths.1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 3.33 deaths/1,000 population
Average Lifespan- 81.95 years
Average Income- $10,900
Literacy Rate- 99%
Unemployment rate- 10.6%

Peru
% of Catholics- 84.1%
Birth Rate- 18.85 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 5.97 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 20.85 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 72.98 years
Average Income- $15,200
Literacy Rate- 89.6%
Unemployment Rate- 6.8%

Panama
% of Catholics- 85%
Birth Rate- 18.91 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 4.73 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 11.01 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 78.13 years
Average Income- $15,900
Literacy Rate- 94.1%
Unemployment Rate- 4.4%

France
% of Catholics- 83-88%
Birth Rate- 12.6 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 8.96 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 3.34 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 81.56 years
Average Income- $36,100
Literacy Rate- 99%
Unemployment Rate- 10.3%

3 Nations with Catholic Percentages Lower than 5%

Taiwan

% of Catholics- 4.5%
Birth Rate- 8.61 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 6.83 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 4.55 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 79.71 years
Average Income- $39,400
Literacy rate- 96.1%
Unemployment rate- 4.2%

Turkey
% of Catholics- <1%
Birth Rate- 17.22 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 6.11 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 22.23 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 73.03 years
Average Income- $15,200
Literacy Rate- 94.1%
Unemployment rate- 9.2%

Saudi Arabia
% of Catholics- <1%
Birth Rate- 19.01 births/1,000 population
Death Rate- 3.32 deaths/1,000 population
Infant Mortality Rate- 15.08 deaths/1,000 live births
Average Lifespan- 74.58 years
Average Income- $31,800
Literacy Rate- 87.2%
Unemployment- 10.6%

Conclusion

The countries I chose to research were Mexico, Spain, Italy, Peru, Panama, France, Taiwan (outgroup), Turkey (outgroup), and Saudi Arabia (outgroup). Given the data on these nine countries, I do not believe that having a high percentage of Catholicism correlates with a high birth rate.

The six nations I selected each had populations that were 80% Catholic or more. Birth rates, in these countries, had a huge range from 8.94 to 18.91 births per 1,000 populations. The CIA World Factbook states that the average birth rate per thousand population is 18.9. That means that in that range, the highest country scored barely above the mean birth rate. Only one country scored above it. In fact, Italy and Spain had some of the lowest birthrates in the world. Furthermore, of all the nine countries I examined, the country with the highest birth rate was Saudi Arabia, a country with less than 1% of a Catholic presence in its population, at a rate of 19.01 births per 1,000 people. This led me to conclude that having a high Catholic presence in a country has no effect on the national birth rate.

Then what does influence birth rate? I then looked at different factors that I though would be key including literacy rate, average income, infant mortality rate, death rate, average lifespan, and unemployment. Even looking at these varying trends, it was hard to find strong correlations with birth rate. This could be attributed to the fact that potentially relevant items such as technological advancement and government presence are difficult to quantify and compare from country to country. The factors that that seemed to be highest correlated to birth rate were average lifespan and infant mortality. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Peru had relatively lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rates. And logically, this would make sense. If parents lost their child at a young age, they would most likely try to have another child.

While there is a general disapproval of artificial birth control among practitioners of Catholicism, statistics from the CIA World Factbook prove that that there is no correlation between high percentage of Catholics and higher birth rates.