Assignment #3

Stephanie Gieseker

Italy

Religions: Roman Catholic 90%, other 10%

Literacy population: 98.4%

Birth rate: 9.18 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 81.77 years

Argentina

Religions: Roman Catholic 92% (less than 20% practicing), Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4%

Literacy population: 97.2%

Birth rate: 17.54 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 76.95 years

France

Religion: Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%

Literacy population: 99%

Birth Rate: 12.29 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 81.19 years

Spain

Religion: Roman Catholic 94%, other 6%

Literacy population: 97.9%

Birth Rate: 10.66 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 81.17 years

Germany

Religion: Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%

Literacy population: 99%

Birth Rate: 8.3 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 80.07 years

Honduras

Religion: Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3%

Literacy population: 80%

Birth rate: 25.14 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 70.61 years

Out-groups

Kenya

Religion: Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 33%, Muslim 10%, indigenous beliefs 10%, other 2%

Literacy population: 85.1%

Birth rate: 33.54 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 59.48 years

China

Religion: Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2% Literacy population: 92.2%

Birth rate: 12.29 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 74.68 years

India

Religion: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1%

Literacy population: 61%

Birth rate: 20.97 births/1,000 population

Life expectancy at birth: 66.8 years

The data above shows six countries that are predominately Catholic and three “out-group” countries that have a lower Catholic population. I looked at four specific categories for each country including religion, literacy population, birth rate, and life expectancy rate at birth. From the data I have gathered, it cannot be said true that countries which predominately practice Catholicism have a higher birth rate. Kenya has the highest birth rate as well as the lowest life expectancy rate at birth. India has one of the highest birth rates as well. Surprisingly Honduras, one of the predominately Catholic country, has a higher birth rate than China. China however has a much higher population. There is a correlation I found between the predominately Catholic countries and literacy population. These countries, with some of the lowest birth rates, uphold the highest literacy rates. However Kenya is a surprising exception. It has the highest birth rate and a substantially higher literacy rate than the other out-groups. Overall from the data I examined, there is no real correlation between predominately Catholic countries and birth rates.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT #3 - BIRTH RATE, BIRTH CONTROL, and TECHNOLOGICAL CONSERVATIVISM

Margaret Grover

Italy

Religion: Roman Catholic: 90%

Birth rate: 9.18 births/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 3.39 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: 98.4%

Brazil

Religion: Roman Catholic: 78.95%

Birth rate: 17.79 births/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 21.17 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: total population: 88.6%

Spain

Religion: Roman Catholic 94%

Birth rate: 10.66 births/1,000 population

Infant mortality: 3.39 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: 97.9%

Portugal

Religion: Roman Catholic 84.5%

Birth Rate: 9.94 births/1,000 population

Infant Mortality: total: 4.66 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: 93.3%

Venezuela

Religion: Catholic 96%

Birth Rate: 20.1 births/1,000 population

Infant Mortality: 20.62 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: 93%

France

Religion: Roman Catholic 83%-88%

Birth Rate: 12.29 births/1,000 population

Infant Mortality: 3.29 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: 99%

Out Group:

China

Religion: (Christian 3%-4%)

Birth Rate: 12.29 births/1,000 population

Infant Mortality: total: 16.06 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy Rates: 92.2%

India

Religion: (Christian 2.3%)

Birth Rates: 20.97 births/1,000 population

Infant Mortality: 47.57 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: 61%

Kenya

Religion: Roman Catholic 33%

Birthrate: 33.54 births/1,000 population

Infant Mortality: 52.29 deaths/1,000 live births

Literacy: 85.1%

Despite the fact that the Catholic Church has publicly condemned the use of contraceptives like birth control, there appears to be very little proof that this has impacted the birth rates of catholic countries. What these statistics for these nine countries seem to show is that there is actually almost no correlation between how Catholic a country’s population is and its’ birthrates. For instance, countries like Kenya, India and China have almost a negligible Catholic population, but they still have significantly higher birthrates than countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal, which have a high percentage of Catholic citizens. Furthermore, among the predominantly Catholic countries there appears to be other factors that contribute to a difference in birth rates. Brazil, for example, has a much higher birthrate than Portugal but they are both extremely Catholic nations.

One possible correlation that I was able to find is that countries with lower literacy rates, like India and Brail, have much higher birth rates. France, which has the highest literacy rates among the nine countries that I examined, has a very low birthrate. While a correlation can be seen between these two factors there is no way to determine a casual relationship. Other variables like infant mortality also seem to also significantly impact a countries birthrate—like with the case of Kenya, which has extremely high birthrates, but also very high infant mortality. Other counties in these two groups that have lower infant mortality rates have lower corresponding birthrates. Although, even with this compression, there is still no way to determine if high infant mortality rates contributes to a countries birth rates. 

Assignment #3

Jonathan Deniol Rodriguez

For this assignment I chose to look at six countries in Northern, Central, and Southern America. I examined a countries primary religion, their birth rate, fertility rate, population growth rate, the life expectancy, and the unemployment rate amongts the 15-24 year old age bracket. Prior to examining these rates, I theorize that countries with large Catholic populations have birth rates which reflect an absence of birth control measures.

HONDURAS
Catholic - 97%
Birth Rate - 25.14/1000
Fertility Rate - 3.09 children/woman
Population Growth Rate - 1.888%
Life Expectancy- 70.61 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24)- 7%

BRAZIL
Catholic - 73.60
Birth Rate- 17.79/1000
Fertility Rate- 2.18 children/woman
Population Growth- 1.134%
Life Expectancy- 72.53 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24) - 17.8%

MEXICO
Catholic- 76.5%
Birth Rate- 19.13/1000
Fertililty Rate- 2.29 children/woman
Population Growth- 1.102%
Life Expectancy - 76.47 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24)- 10%

COSTA RICA
Catholic- 76.3%
Birth Rate- 16.54/1000
Fertility Rate- 1.93 children/woman
Population Growth - 1.308%
Life Expectancy- 77.72 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24)- 11%

CUBA
Catholic - 85%
Birth Rate- 9.99/1000
Fertility Rate - 1.44 children/woman
Population Growth- (-0.104%)
Life Expectancy-77.7 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24)- 3.1%

ARGENTINA
Catholic- 92%
Birth Rate-17.54/1000
Fertiltiy Rate- 2.31 children/woman
Population Growth- 1.017%
Life Expectancy- 76.95 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24) - 21.2%

outgroup

GREECE
Birth Rate- 9.21 births/1000
Fertility Rate-1.38 children/woman
Population Growth-0.083%
Life Expectancy-79.92 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24) - 25.8%

TURKEY
Birth Rate- 17.93 births/1000
Fertility Rate- 2.15 children/woman
Population Growth- 1.235%
Life Expectancy- 72.5 years
Unemployment (ages 15-24) - 25.3%

EGYPT
Birth Rate- 24.63 births/1000
Fertility Rate- 2.97 children/woman
Population Growth- 1.96%
Life Expectancy- 72.66 years
Unemployment- 24.8%

CONCLUSION --> The first six countires, those with high rates of Catholicism show high birth rates. The exception being Cuba which actually had a negative population growth. Both Honduras and Argentina, two countries with high rates of Catholicism demonstrate high birth rates. Population growth, birth rate, and levels of Catholicism appear to be correlated. Non-Catholic countries showed a large level of unemployment, but only Egypt and Turkey had high brith rates. Greece's birth rate is relatively low compared to all the other countries. Their life expectancy is pretty high, having the highest amongst all the countries observed. It's interesting to see that they have the lowest birth rate, and highest life expectancy.
Regardless of religion, almost all of these countries seem to have a growing population rate.

It's interesting comparing countries from North, Central and South America to countries in Europe and the Middle East. Clearly the religions are completely different. Catholicism seems to have a strong correlation with the birth rate amongst the first six countries, but as the non-Catholic countries show, it isn't the only factor that impacts birth rates.

Assignment 3

Alyssa Martinez.

I have compared six countries with a large Catholic population in order to prove (or disprove) that Catholic Prohibition affects infant mortality rates and overall birth rates. I compared obviously 1) the primary religion 2) the secondary religion - because religions such as Christianity and Protestantism have a taboo for abortion in their walks of life; also Muslim religion has a conservative stance on sexual intercourse and abortion. 3) Population Growth rate, which is the percentage in which the population grows previously from the year before. 4) Birth Rate 5) Death Rate and 6) Total Fertility Rate in which how many children a woman is having annually. Therefore, In my research I am using the confounding variable, secondary religion, as a main factor as to how much a population is conservative and how most likely they use birth controls, abortions, abstinence etc.

Costa Rica

1) Catholic 76.3 %

2) Evangelical 13.7 %

3) Population growth rate 1.308%

4) Birth Rate : 16.54 per 1000

5 )Death Rate: 4.33 per 1000

6) Total Fertility Rate: 1.93 children per woman

Honduras

1) Catholic 97 %

2) Protestant 3 %

3) 1.888%

4) 25.14/1000

5) 5.02 deaths/1000

6) Total Fertility Rate: 3.09 children per woman

Peru

1) Catholic 81.3%

2) Evangelical 12. 5%

3) 1.029%

4) 19.41/1000

5) 5.93 deaths/1000

6) Total Fertility Rate: 2.32 children per woman

Bolivia

1) Catholic 95 %

2) Protestant 5 %

3) 1.694%

4) 24.71 / 1000

5) 6.85 deaths / 1000

6) 3 children per woman

Mexico

1) Roman Catholic 76.5 %

2) Protestant 6.7 %

3) 1.102%

4) 19.13/1000

5) 4.86 deaths/1000

6) 2.29 children per woman

Puerto Rico

1) Roman Catholic 85 %

2) Protestant 15 %

3) 0.254 %

4) 11.35 births/1000

5) 7.95 deaths /1000

6) 1.62 children per woman

For the next three countries I will choose three countries in which there is a small or virtually no Catholic population in order to compare the birth rates of countries and their religious sects influences on the matter.

Mauritania:

1) Muslim 100%

2) No secondary

3) 2.349 %

4) 33.23 births /1000

5) 8.83 deaths/ 1000

6) 4.3 children per woman

Israel:

1) Jewish 75.6%

2) Muslim 16.9 %

3) 1.584%

4) 19.24 /1000

5) 5.47 deaths/1000

6) 2.7 children per woman

Russia:

1) Russia Orthodox 15 -20%

2) Muslim 15 – 20 %

3) -0.47 %

4) 11.05 /1000

5) 16.04 deaths /1000

6) 1.42 per woman

In Conclusion, I believe secondary religion has a viable source as to how a population sees and controls birth rates in their country. According to the first six countries with a high Catholic population, there was a high (most of the time more then 10%) birth rate compared to death rate. Secondly, there was always a population growth and the average amount of children to women was about 2 - 3. And lastly, most of the secondary religions were either Protestant or Evangelical Christian which have a practice in which "abortion" is a social taboo, also abstinence is highly practiced unless married in these churches. However, when compared to other countries with virtually no Catholic population and a high Muslim, Jewish or Orthodox religion, figures vastly changed, except for the case for Russia - in Mauritania and Israel, the birth rate was about 10 - 20% more then the death rate and there was a greater children to mother ratio of about 2 - 4. In Russia's circumstance which had a negative population growth and small child to mother ratio, I believe other antecedent variables are to cause such as the harsh weather and living conditions Russia faces. So, ultimately my research shows that countries with a larger Catholic population actually have more "births being controlled" and more stable populations.