Masha Lazer

France:

Religions: Roman Catholic 83%-88%

Birth rate: 12.72 births/1,000 population (ranked 156 in world)

Death rate: 8.85 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 72 in world)

Urbanization: 85% of total population, with 1% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 8 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 157 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 3.37 deaths/1,000 live births (ranked 213 in world)

Health Expenditures: 3.5% of GDP (ranked 171 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 150,000 (ranked 33 in world)

Education Expenditures: 5.6% of GDP (ranked 41 in world)

Youth Unemployment (15-24 years old): 22.6% (ranked 39 in world)

Population below poverty line: 6.2%

Brazil:

Religions: Roman Catholic 73.6%

Birth Rate: 17.48 births/1,000 population (ranked 109 in world)

Death Rate: 6.38 deahts/1,000 population (ranked 154 in world)

Urbanization: 87% with 1/1% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 56 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 104 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 20.5 deahts/1,000 live births (ranked 94 in world)

Health expenditures: 9% of GDP (ranked 43 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: N/A

Education expenditures: 5% of GDP (ranked 55 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): 17.8% (ranked 65 in world)

Population below poverty line: 21.4%

Poland:
Religions: Roman Catholic 89.8%

Birth rate: 9.96 births/1,000 population (ranked 194 in world)

Death rate: 10.24 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 48 in world)

Urbanization: 61% of total population (ranked 138 in world)

Maternal mortality rate: 5 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 175 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 6.42 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 169 in world)

Health expenditures: 7.1% of GDP (ranked 75 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 27,000 (ranked 70 in world)

Education Expenditures: 4.9% of GDP (ranked 63 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): 20.7% (ranked 52 in world)

Population below poverty line: 17%

Mexico:

Religions: Roman Catholic 76.5%

Birth Rate: 18.87 births/1,000 population (ranked 102 in world)

Death rate: 4.9 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 188 in world)

Urbanization: 78% of total population 1.2% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 50 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 108 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 16.77 deaths/1,000 live births (ranked 104 in world)

Health expenditures: 13.8% (ranked 3 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 220,000 (ranked 79 in world)

Education expenditures: 4.8% of GDP (ranked 69 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): 10% (ranked 102 in world)

Population below poverty line: 51.3%

Philippines:

Religions: Roman Catholic 82.9%

Birth rate: 24.98 births/1,000 population (ranked 58 in world)

Death rate: 4.98 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 185 in world)

Urbanization: 49% of total population with 2.3% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 99 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 73 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 18.75 deaths/1,000 live births (ranked 101 in world)

Health expenditures: 3.8% of GDP (ranked 169 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 8,700 (ranked 104 in world)

Education expenditures: 2.8% of GDP (ranked 139 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): 17.4% (ranked 67 in world)

Population below poverty line: 26.5%

Colombia:

Religions: Roman Catholic 90%

Birth rate: 17.23 births/1,000 population (ranked 117 in world)

Death rate: 5.29 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 178 in world)

Urbanization: 75% of total population with 1.7% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 92 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 80 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 15.92 deaths/1,000 live births (ranked 107 in world)

Health expenditures: 6.4% of GDP (ranked 94 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 160,000 (ranked 32 in world)

Education expenditures: 4.8% of GDP (ranked 67 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): 23% (ranked 37 in world)

Population below poverty line: 37.2%

COMPARISON COUNTRIES

Madagascar:

Religions: Roman Catholic 0%

Birth rate: 37.13 births/1,000 population (ranked 18 in world)

Death rate: 7.61 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 12 in world)

Urbanization: 30% of total population with 3.9% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 240 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 48 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 50.09 deaths/1,000 live births (ranked 44 in world)

Health expenditures: 6.2% of GDP (ranked 100 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: .2% (ranked 92 in world)

Education expenditures: 3% of GDP (ranked 133 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): 2.3% (ranked 128 in world)

Population below poverty line: 50%

Fiji:

Religions: Roman Catholic 9.1%

Birth rate: 20.7 births/1,000 population (ranked 83 in world)

Death rate: 5.93 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 167 in world)

Urbanization: 52% of population with 1.3% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 26 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 129 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 10.73 deaths/1,000 live births (ranked 141 in world)

Health expenditures: 9.7% of GDP (ranked 32 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: fewer than 1,000 (ranked 143 in world)

Education expenditures: 6.2% of GDP (ranked 26 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): N/A

Population below poverty line: 31%

Niger:

Religions: Roman Catholic 0%

Birth rate: 50.06 births/1,000 population (ranked 1 in world)

Death rate: 13.76 deaths/1,000 population (ranked 14 in world)

Urbanization: 17% of total population with 4.7% annual rate of change

Maternal mortality rate: 590 deaths/100,000 live births (ranked 13 in world)

Infant mortality rate: 109.98 deaths/1,000 live births (ranked 2 in world)

Health expenditures: 6.1% of GDP (ranked 102 in world)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 61,000 (ranked 54 in world)

Education expenditures: 4.5% of GDP (ranked 81 in world)

Youth unemployment (15-24 years old): 3.2% (ranked 126 in world)

Population below poverty line: 63%

It is widely believed that religious beliefs, namely Catholicism, play a big role in the use of contraception. This correlation is meant to be observed through the birth rates of different nations, depending on their degree of Catholicism. Although this factor may have an effect on birth rates, it is definitely not the only, or even the most prevalent, factor regarding birth rates. If it was, we wouldn’t see as many discrepancies in birth rates between the countries with a predominantly Catholic population. Some of the other factors include: urbanization, infant and maternal mortality rates, expenditures on health, educational and employment opportunities for women, the dependency on child labor, and the relative poverty within the country.

Starting with urbanization, people living in urban areas tend to have better access to hospitals and family planning services. In nations with lower percentages of the population living in urban areas, we see greater birth rates (for example: Niger has only 17% of the population living in urban areas, and the highest birth rate in the world). Furthermore, there is a link between those who live in urban areas and the youth unemployment rate. Those who live in more rural areas tend to rely on child labor more. So, both the factors of being farther from family planning centers, as well as relying on child labor, add to the larger percentage of birth rates.

In countries with high infant and maternal mortality rates, there is also a positive correlation with high birth rates. Countries with low infant mortality rates tend to have less children because not as many of them die at a fewer age and can grow to maturity. This is known as K-selection and also points to a more stable environment, less offspring, and more investment in each offspring. On the contrary, nations with higher infant mortality rates tend to have r-selection, where the environment is less stable, and there are more offspring with less investment per each offspring. We end up seeing, also, that those nations with lower infant and maternal mortality rates also have a higher population living in urban areas, which again points to better access to hospitals.

Instead of being largely dependent on religion, I would say that birth rates are more of a social adaptation to certain living conditions. First of all, Catholicism is not the only religion that prohibits the use of contraceptives and other family planning tools. Furthermore, taking religion completely out of the picture, there are a number of environmental factors that contribute to the birth rate of the population in different nations. Putting a single variable as a blanket factor in this situation is highly inappropriate.