Anine Jorstad Paulsen

Soc166

Assignment #3 – Birth Rate and Ideology

In the Roman Catholic Church they don’t believe in using birth control to prevent a child from being born. In this assignment I will look at different countries with a high Roman Catholic population and compare their birth rates, and look at other factors that might have something to do with birth rates other than their ideology. I will also look at countries that have a low Roman Catholic population to compare their level of birth rates with Catholic countries. Does Catholic prohibition have an influence on birth control use or do other factors appear to play a greater role in birth rate?

Countries with a high Roman Catholic population:

Italy – 80% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 8.94 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 3.33/1000

Average lifespan: 81.95 years

Average income: $20.600

Average education level: 16 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 62.7 %

Spain – 94% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 10.14 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 3.35 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 81.37 years

Average income: $31.100

Average education level: 17 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 65.7 %

Mexico – 82.7% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 18.61 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 16.26 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 76.86 years

Average income: $15.600

Average education level: 14 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 70.9 %

Brazil – 73.6% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 14.97 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 19.83 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 73.02 years

Average income: $12.100

Average education level: 14 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 80.3 %

Philippines – 80.9% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 24.62 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 18.19 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 72.21 years

Average income: $4.500

Average education level: 11 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 48.9 %

Bolivia – 95% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 23.77 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 39.76 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 68.22 years

Average income: $5.200

Average education level: 14 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 60.5 %

Countries with a low Roman Catholic population

Norway – 1% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 10.8 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 3.47 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 80.44 years

Average income: $55.900

Average education level: 18 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 88.4 %

Sierra Leone – 2.9% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 37.77 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 74.95 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 56.98 years

Average income: $1.400

Average education level: 12 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 11 %

Armenia – 3.7% Roman Catholic

Birth rate: 12.86 births/1000

Infant mortality rates: 17.59 deaths/1000

Average lifespan: 73.75 years

Average income: $5.900

Average education level: 12 years

Contraceptive prevalence: 54.9 %

If we look at the countries with a high Roman Catholic population, we can see that most of them have a high percentage of contraceptive prevalence. This means that a high percentage uses birth control despite their ideology.

If we look at the countries with a low Roman Catholic population, two of them, Sierra Leone and Armenia, have a lower contraceptive prevalence than the Roman Catholic countries. The reason for that may be that these two countries have an average education level of 12 years, and a low average income compared to other countries. This can be a reason for the low contraceptive prevalence, they’re maybe not educated enough about birth control.

Based on the facts given above, we can conclude that Catholic prohibition don’t have that big influence on birth control use, and that other factors like income and education rates play a greater role in birth rate.