Per Andreas Ramberg

ASSIGNMENT #3 - BIRTH RATE CORRELATES
by Per Andreas Ramberg

Mexico:
Population: 114,975,406
Catholics: 76,5%
Birthrate: 18.87 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 16.77 deaths/1,000
Education: 4.8% of GDP
Population below poverty line: 51,3%

Italy:
Population: 61,261,254
Catholics: 80%
Birthrate: 9.06 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 3.36 deaths/1,000
Education: 4.3% of GDP
Population below poverty line: N/A

Spain:
Population: 47,042,984
Catholics: 94%
Birthrate: 10.4 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 3.37 deaths/1,000
Education: 4.3% of GDP
Population below poverty line: 19,8%

Argentina:
Population: 42,192,494
Catholics: 92%
Birthrate: 17.34 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 10.52 deaths/1,000
Education: 4.9% of GDP
Population below poverty line: 30%

Poland:
Population: 38,415,284
Catholics: 89.8%
Birthrate: 9.96 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 6.42 deaths/1,000
Education: 4.9% of GDP
Population below poverty line: 17%

Cape Verde:
Population: 523,568
Catholics: 93%
Birthrate: 21.21 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 26.02 deaths/1,000
Education: 5.9% of GDP
Population below poverty line: 30%

Non-catholic countries:

Bangladesh:
Population: 161,083,804
Muslim: 89.5%
Birthrate: 22.53 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 48.99 deaths/1,000
Education: 2.4% of GDP
Population below poverty line: 31,51%

Bahrain:
Population: 1,248,348
Muslim: 81.2%
Birthrate: 14.41 births/1,000
Infant mortality rate: 10.2 deaths/1,000
Education: 2.9% of GDP
Population below poverty line: N/A

Estonia:
Population: 1,274,709
Religion: many (under 5% Catholics)
Birthrate: 10.43 births/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate: 6.94 deaths/1,000
Education: 4.9% of GDP
Population below poverty line: 17.5%

Analysis:
It seems like religion has nothing to do with birth rates in the countries I have gathered data from, so that thesis we can describe as “busted”.

The first thing that seems to correlate with high birth rates is poverty. The higher amount of people living under the poverty line, the more children they spawn. Why this is, is hard for me to explain as I have no knowledge on the matter except the fact that I just read it on the CIA website thingy. It might have to do something with the fact that the more children you have, the more people you have to support you as it is known to be like in Africa.
The same goes with infant mortality rates. Bangladesh, which has the highest birth rate (22,53/1000) and the highest infant mortality rate (48,99/1000), and on 2^nd place is Mexico with 18,87 births and 16.77 deaths corresponds with my beliefs. So does all the other countries, but you can read that for yourself in the data above.

Initially I thought the general education level might have something to do with birth rates, but it seems that that doesn’t correlate either as all the countries I have gathered data from have quite similar levels of education.