Helene Instanes

Though there is a technologically conservative prohibition against birth control among Catholic populations, does this prohibition really exist in behavior?

According to the countries that I have chosen, it seems like the prohibition of birth control does not affect the population. Malta, one of the countries I have chosen consists of 98 % Catholics, however the contraceptive prevalence rate is the highest among my 9 countries. When looking at the Catholic countries and the percentage of the population, which is using contraceptive, the number, are higher in the Catholic countries compared to the non-Catholic countries. Malta, Argentina and Colombia are basically the countries with the highest percentage of Catholics, and also have the highest percentage of birth control use. This indicates that the technologically conservative prohibition against birth control among the Catholic population is proves wrong and is not consistent when it comes to the Catholic Ideology.

Does Catholic prohibition really have an influence on birth control use (reflected in a high birth rate) or do other factors appear to play a greater role in birth rate (poverty, education, infant mortality rate, short average lifespan, etc.)?

When looking at the countries with some of the highest birth rates, Philippines, Somalia and Indonesia, we can see that they have some things in common, but only Philippines is Catholic. All of them have an average income below $14,000, they have the lowest average lifespan, the lowest percentage of birth control use, and also have the lowest educational level among the selected countries. These are all different factors that can contribute to a high birth rate. Low income can indicate that they do not have money to spend on birth control. Which can be strengthening by looking at the percentage of birth control use in these countries. However these countries also have some of the lowest educational levels among the countries, which can indicate that they have not learned about birth control.

However two of the Catholic countries with the highest percentage of Catholics, Malta and Monaco, have the lowest percentage of birth rate. They also have the highest average income and lowest percentage of infant mortality. Compared to the other Catholic countries, Philippines, with high birth rate, we find that the differences is that high income equals less children, and low income equals many children. Also the average lifespan is higher in Malta and Monaco, which shows that life quality is higher in these countries.

Among my countries, the country with the lowest percentage of birth control use is Somalia. Where the birth rate also is the highest with 41,45 births per 1000. In addition, Somalia is the poorest country and also has the lowest education and average lifespan.

Conclusion

The Catholic prohibition does not seem to have a great influence on birth control use in the countries that I have chosen. By looking at these statistics from these countries we can conclude that the r/K theory is consistent. K-selection countries have a greater average income like Monaco, Malta and Iceland and also tend to have a lower birthrate and infant mortality rate. This can also indicate that they have a stabile environment. However, r- selection countries show to have a low average income and also have a high birth rate and also an infant mortality rate. These countries tend also to be the one who uses less birth control, and have a lower average lifespan, which might mean that they have an unstable environment and might produce a lot of kids so that they are sure some of them will actually grow up. Examples can be Somalia, Philippines and Indonesia.