Henrik S. Andersen

Is less birth control causing increased birth rates?

In this paper I wanted to know if decreased use of birth control as a nation due to Catholism will lead to increased birth rate. And to figure this out I went on the internet and found a site which had a lot of statistical data of many countries around the world. I chose, for my six Catholic countries, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Mexico and Chile. And for my three non-Catholic countries , I chose Norway, Sweden and Denmark.  In the bottom of this paper I will include the figures for the data I found .

As a requirement, the Catholic countries had to have at least 65% of the population to be Catholic, and for the non-Catholic countries there had to be less than 5%.

For finding out if it is the Catholic ban on birth control that are causing increased birth rate or if it is something else, I chose the same six variables for each country. The variables are religion, birth rate, infant mortality rate, life expectancy, school life expectancy and GDP per capita income (PPP) .

If you just look at the correlation between the variables religion and birth rate, you will not find any conclusive data. Where mexico, Brazil and Chile are all Catholic countries and have a high birth rate   (Ranging from 14.28 birth / 1000 people in Chile to 18.87 births / 1000 people in Mexico). The countries Italy, Spain and Portugal all have relatively low birth rate (Ranging from 9.06 births /1000 people In Italy to 10.4 births / 1000 people in Spain). In the non-Catholic countries the birth rate ranging from 10.21 births/ 1000 people in Sweden to 10.8 births / 1000 people in Norway with Denmark in the middle with 10.22 

births /1000 people.

If you add the variable infant mortality rate, you will find more interesting data. In all for the three countries with the highest birth rate , you will find that the infant mortality rate Is significantly higher than the countries with lower birth rate. The infant mortality rate in Brazil, Chile and Mexico are ranging from 7.36 deaths /1000 births in Chile to 20.5 deaths /1000 births in Brazil. In the other six countries the infant mortality rate never went over 4.6 deaths /1000 births . And one thing to note is that Chile has a lot lower infant mortality rate then Brazil and Mexico and also has a lower birth rate, even though its higher than the other six.

When it comes to the last three variables , I chose these as a way to tell how advanced the different countries are , and I found out that the three countries with the highest birth rate scores the lowest on the variables life expectancy, school life expectancy and GDP per capita. And on the other side the six countries with lower birth rate scored higher on every variable. And again you find Chile scoring higher then Brazil and Mexico, but not as high as the other six.

As conclusion, my findings are that religion doesn’t have much to say in the birth rate issue. But what HAS something to say is how advanced a country is. With more advanced technology and information, the infant mortality rate goes down, more people go to school, and study longer , lives longer and will earn more money and the need of kids to eventually  take care of you when you grows older decreased as the society grows “bigger and better”

Mexico:

Religion: 76.5% Catholic

Birth rate: 18.87 births /1000

Infant mortality rate: 16.77 death / 1000 births

Life expectancy : 76.66 years

School life expectancy: 14 years

GDP/ppp: 14.800$ (2011)

Italy:

Religion:  80% Christian (overwhelming catholic)

Birth rate:  9.06 births / 1000

Infant mortality rate:  3.36 deaths / 1000 births

Life expectancy: 81.86 years

School life expectancy: 16 years

GDP/ppp: 30.900$ (2011)

Spain:

Religion: 94% Catholic

Birth rate:  10.4 births / 1000

Infant mortality rate:  3.37 deaths /1000 births

Life expectancy: 81.27 Years

School life expectancy: 16 years

GDP/ppp: 31.000$ (2011)                     

Portugal:

Religion: 84.5 % Catholic

Birth rate:  9.76 births / 1000

Infant mortality rate : 4.6 deaths / 1000 births

Life expectancy: 78.7 Years

School life expectancy: 16 years

GDP/ppp: 23.700$ (2011)

Brazil:

Religion: 73.6% Catholic

Birth rate: 17.48 births / 1000

Infant mortality rate:  20.5 deaths / 1000 births

Life expectancy : 72.79 Years

School life expectancy: 14 years

GDP/ppp: 11.900$ (2011)

Chile:

Religion : 70% Catholic

Birth rate: 14.28 births / 1000

Infant mortality rate: 7.36 deaths / 1000 births

Life expectancy : 78.1 Years

School life expectancy: 15 years

GDP/ppp: 17.400$ (2011)

Outgroup:

Norway:

Religion:  85.7% Evangelical Lutheran

Birth rate: 10.8 births / 1000

Infant mortality rate: 3.5 deaths / 1000 births

Life expectancy: 80.32 Years

School life expectancy: 17 years

GDP/ppp: 54.200$ (2011)

Sweden :

Religion: 87% Lutheran

Birth rate:  10.24 births / 1000

Death rate: 10.21 deaths / 1000

Infant mortality rate: 2.74 deaths / 1000 births

Life expectancy : 81.18 Years

School life expectancy: 16 years

GDP/ppp: 40.900$ (2011)

Denmark:

Religion: 95% Evangelical Lutheran

Birth rate:  10.22 births / 1000

Infant mortality rate: 4.19 deaths / 1000 births

Life expectancy: 78.78 Years

School life expectancy: 17 years

GDP/ppp: 37.600$ (2011)