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.