scholarly journals Do Religious People Have More Children? The Effect of Religious Affiliation and Religiosity on Fertility

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 479-499
Author(s):  
Iim Halimatusa’diyah ◽  
◽  
Dzuriyatun Toyibah ◽  

This paper aimed to examine the effect of religious affiliation and religiosity on the fertility rate. While scholars have predicted the decline of religion’s influence, practice, and role in modern societies, religion still plays a vital role in shaping individuals’ behavior, including their fertility behavior. While there have been many studies on the role of religion on fertility, few studies have compared the fertility rates among people from different religious affiliations and their practices of religiosity. Additionally, cross-national analyses of the fertility rate of religious individuals who live as a majority or minority in various countries are still limited. Drawing from the World Value Survey data and using OLS regression to examine interaction and socialization, and minority-status approaches to the relationship between religion and fertility behaviors, this study revealed that Muslims are more likely to have a higher number of children among the explored religions. In terms of religiosity, those who are more religious, from all religious affiliations, demonstrated the same likelihood of having high fertility. Additionally, while both ritual and belief dimensions of religiosity are significantly associated with a high fertility rate for all religious affiliations, all dimensions of religiosity had significant effects on fertility for Muslims. Furthermore, Muslim and Christian minorities were likely to have lower fertility rates than their counterparts with majority status.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan Connor

This article shows that parents reveal information about their fertility behavior through how they name their children. I arrive at this finding from detailed examination of the net fertility of 130,000 married couples in Ireland circa 1910, a country known for its historically high fertility rate. After stringently accounting for the occupation, religion and location of couples, I find higher fertility rates among couples who chose distinctly Catholic names and traditional names for their children, with the latter being particularly important. Exposure to towns and cities lowered net fertility and weakened preferences for traditional and Catholic names. Cumulatively, these findings highlight the role of traditional rural norms over explicitly religious influences in driving high fertility rates in Ireland. The impact of towns and cities in reducing net fertility suggests that Ireland’s sluggish urbanization was a key factor in its high historical fertility rate.


Demography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 1793-1815
Author(s):  
Dylan Shane Connor

Abstract This article shows that parents reveal information about their fertility behavior through how they name their children. I arrive at this finding from a detailed examination of the net fertility of 130,000 married couples in Ireland, a country known for its historically high fertility rate, circa 1911. After stringently accounting for couples' occupation, religion, and location, I find higher fertility rates among couples who chose distinctly Catholic names and traditional names for their children, with the latter being particularly important. Exposure to towns and cities lowered net fertility and weakened preferences for traditional and Catholic names. Cumulatively, these findings highlight the role of traditional rural norms over explicitly religious influences in driving high fertility rates in Ireland. The impact of towns and cities in reducing net fertility suggests that Ireland's sluggish urbanization was a key factor in its high historical fertility rate.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-29
Author(s):  
Stella Babalola ◽  
Joshua O. Akinyemi ◽  
Clifford O. Odimegwu

Abstract Nigeria has one of the highest fertility rates in Africa. Data from 2013 Demographic and Health Surveys indicate a virtual stagnation of fertility rate since 2003. Low contraceptive use and pronatalist attitudes are among the factors contributing to the high fertility rate in Nigeria. In this manuscript, we pooled data from three most recent waves of Demographic and Health Surveys to examine trends in demand for children over time and identify the factors associated with change in demand for children. The data show that demand for children has declined since 2003 although not monotonically so. Variables that were positively associated with increased likelihood of desiring no additional children were residence in the South-West (as opposed to residence in the North-Central), exposure to family planning (FP) messages on the mass media, number of children ever born, educational level, and urban residence. In contrast, uncertainty about fertility desire was more widespread in 2008 compared to 2013 although less widespread in 2003 than in 2013. The likelihood of being undecided about fertility desire was positively associated with discrepancies in family size desires between husband and wife, parity and Islamic religious affiliation. Programs should aim to increase access to effective contraceptive methods and promote demand for contraceptives as a way of fostering a sustainable reduction in demand for children. Furthermore, strategies that address uncertainty by fostering women’s understanding of the social and health implications of large family sizes are relevant.


Populasi ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter J. Soumokil

It has been argued by many demographers that socio economic development with its associated fundamental changes in the role of women and the value of children is the dominant factor in the transition from high to low fertility. Research in less developed countries has found lower fertility levels in urban population compared to rural population. It was therefore assumed that the modernizing role of urbanlife helped bring about a decline infertility levels.This study in Irian Jaya, however, convincingly shows that fertility of urban women in Irian Jaya is higher than that of rural women. This differential infertility in favour of urban women in Irian Jaya appears to be real and not a result of underreporting of total live births in rural areas.The reasons for lower fertility in the rural areas in IrianJaya remain unknown, and more research is therefore needed. However, this study strongly suggests that the traditional system of swidden agricultyure in Irian Jaya, which places a highvalue on the labour input of women, may play a major role in constraining fertility in rural area of this province. On the other hand, high fertility in urban areas takes place because urbanwomen have their first birth earlier thanwomen inthe rural areas.


Author(s):  
Emilia Justyna Powell

This chapter explores in considerable detail differences and similarities between the Islamic legal tradition and international law. It discusses in detail the historical interaction between these legal traditions, their co-evolution, and the academic conversations on this topic. The chapter also addresses the Islamic milieu’s contributions to international law, and sources of Islamic law including the Quran, sunna, judicial consensus, and analogical reasoning. It talks about the role of religion in international law. Mapping the specific characteristics of Islamic law and international law offers a glimpse of the contrasting and similar paradigms, spirit, and operation of law. This chapter identifies three points of convergence: law of scholars, customary law, and rule of law; as well as three points of departure: relation between law and religion, sources of law, and religious features in the courtroom (religious affiliation and gender of judges, holy oaths).


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Medhin Girmay Reda ◽  
Girma Tenkolu Bune ◽  
Mohammed Feyisso Shaka

Background. High fertility remains one of the most important public health issues hampering the health and welfare of mothers and the survival of their children in developing nations. In Ethiopia, the high fertility rate has been seen for a long historical period with some pocket areas of high fertility still showing poor improvement. Hence, this study was aimed at determining the magnitude of high fertility status (number of children ever born alive≥5) and associated factors among women of the reproductive age group in Wonago district. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected 512 women in Wonago district. Data were collected using a pretested structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Data was entered into EpiData version 3.1 and then analyzed by SPSS version 25. Logistic regression was used to analyze the data, and the adjusted odds ratio with the 95% confidence interval was computed, and a significant association was declared at p value ≤ 0.05. Result. This study revealed that 354 (69.1%) of the respondents have high fertility. High fertility is independently associated with residing in rural area [AOR=4.88, 95% CI: 3.21, 7.86], desire for children [AOR=6.97, 95% CI: 3.24, 11.40], history of under-five child mortality [AOR =5.32, 95% CI: 2.59, 8.43], poor knowledge of contraception [AOR=2.67, 95% CI: 1.66, 4.04], and low wealth tertile [AOR=2.21, 95% CI: 1.51, 3.58]. On the other hand, women with age at first birth above 18 years [AOR=0.34, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.68] and those with birth interval≥24 months [AOR=0, 26, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.49] were less likely to have high fertility. Conclusion and Recommendation. The substantial number of women in the study area has high fertility status far away from the country’s costed implementation plan of reducing the total fertility rate to 3.0. Considering these, much is needed to be done among poor, rural residents, who have not yet attained their desired number of children, and on enhancing the knowledge of mothers towards contraceptive methods.


Author(s):  
David Lê

Abstract While Hegel’s infamous “end of art” thesis states that art is “for us, a thing of the past” he insists that philosophy and, to a degree that is often underestimated by contemporary readers, religion endure within the structure of modern life. In this paper I aim to demonstrate how by focusing on Hegel’s claim that religion meets no end, we can come to a better understanding of how and why he thinks art does end. This will lead us away from common, but false, picture of Hegel as being indifferent (or even hostile) to art’s sensuous mode of intelligibility. Inasmuch as religion remains both necessarily sensuous and a component of social life that realizes freedom and divinity within modernity, the “problem” with art cannot be its sensuousness per se. What art ultimately finds itself unable to do, and what religion can do, is find a way to reconcile the destabilizing force of individual, subjective freedom with a jointly-held representation of who and what we are and what we value most, what Hegel calls “divinity” (das Göttliche). By countenancing the vital role of religion in Hegel’s thought, we can therefore better understand one of his most famous, and least understood philosophical claims.


2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha J Bailey

The 1960s ushered in a new era in US demographic history characterized by significantly lower fertility rates and smaller family sizes. What catalyzed these changes remains a matter of considerable debate. This paper exploits idiosyncratic variation in the language of “Comstock” statutes, enacted in the late 1800s, to quantify the role of the birth control pill in this transition. Almost 50 years after the contraceptive pill appeared on the US market, this analysis provides new evidence that it accelerated the post-1960 decline in marital fertility. (JEL J12, J13, K10, N31, N32)


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-75
Author(s):  
Yana A. Skryabina

The article is devoted to the analysis of the fertility rate dynamics in the Republic of Bashkortostan and the study of the reproductive behaviour of the population entering into a registered marriage. The author examines the crude and total fertility rates, the net population reproduction rate, the total fertility rate by the order of births, as well as age-specific fertility rates. In addition, basing on the data of population surveys, the author regards reproductive intentions of citizens applying for marriage in the registry office, as well as reasons that may prevent them from having a child. The study shows that the Republic of Bashkortostan is characterized by a low fertility rate; the generation of children does not replace the generation of parents. The reproductive intentions of the respondents measured by the desired and expected number of children correspond to the small (two-child) family model. Among the main reasons that can prevent the birth of a child, the first two are financial and housing difficulties, and third is the desire to live for oneself for a while.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Rahatullah Khan

Building an ethical culture is challenging and a basic requirement of the companies to embed transparency in their systems, creating a positive image; serving the internal and external communities. This paper based on detailed interviews of 12 family owned businesses over a period of 16 months explores how these companies build the ethical culture, identifying the ethical culture sustainability triggers, challenges and role of religion in such practices. The values, culture, community and social norms are identified as major ingredients of a sustainable ethical culture development and implementation of the ethical policies and procedures require institutional and structural mechanisms for effectiveness in family owned businesses. The findings at numerous occasions are in contrast to the literature, whereas, in other instances are similar. The religion, society, family image, the entrepreneurs themselves and their family members play a vital role. Non-interference in private matters of the employees, whistle blowing, code of ethics, training and awareness creation and a number of other factors play a leading role in ethical culture development in family businesses.  


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