Assignment # 3 Birth Rate and Ideology
I chose 6 nations, 3 with a high % of Catholics in the
population and 3 with a low % of Catholics in the population that come from geographically
different areas of the globe. I picked variables that I felt would have an
affect over the use of contraception other than the catholic ideology of prohibition
of birth control.
On the assumption that nations with large Catholic populations
would have large birth rates, just by comparing the data below we can observe
that this assumption is not true.
In Class Examples of High % of Catholic Countries
Mexico
82.7%
Birth rates: 18.61/1000 births
Infant mortality: 16.26/1000 deaths
Average lifespan: 76.86 years
School life expectancy: 14
years
Education expenders: 5.3% of GDP
*Urban Population: 78% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate: 70.9%
Ireland
87.4%
Birth rates: 15.5/1000 births
Infant mortality: 3.78//1000 deaths
Average lifespan: 80.44 years
School life expectancy: 19 years
Education expenders: 6.5% of GDP
*Urban Population: 62% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate: 64.8%
Italy 80%
Birth rates: 8.94 /1000 births
Infant mortality: 3.33/1000 deaths
Average lifespan: 81.95 years
School life expectancy: 16 years
Education expenders: 4.7% of GDP
*Urban Population: 68% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate: 62.7%
My Pick of High % of Catholic Countries
Puerto
Rico 85%
Birth rates: 11.28/1000 births
Infant mortality: 8/1000 deaths
Average lifespan: 79.07 years
School life expectancy: n/a
Education expenders: n/a
*Urban Population: 99% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate:84.1%
Philippians 82%
Birth rates: 24.62/1000 births
Infant mortality: 18.19/1000 deaths
Average lifespan: 72.21 years
School life expectancy: 11 years
Education expenders: 2.7% of GDP
*Urban Population: 48.8% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate:48.9%
Poland
89%
Birth rates: 9.88/1000 births
Infant mortality: 6.3/1000 deaths
Average lifespan: 76.45 years
School life expectancy: 15 years
Education expenders: 5.1% of GDP
*Urban Population: 60.9% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate:72.7%
Low % Catholic Countries
Japan 2%
Birth rates: 8.23 births
Infant mortality: 2.17/1000 deaths
Average lifespan: 84.19 years
School life expectancy: 15 years
Education expenders: 3.8% of GDP
*Urban Population: 91.3% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate: 54.3%
South
Africa 7.1%
Birth rates: 19.14/1000 births
Infant mortality 42.15 deaths
Average lifespan 49.48 years
School life expectancy: 13 years
Education expenders: 6% of GDP
*Urban population: 62% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate: 59.9%
Iceland
2.5%
Birth rates 13.15/1000 births
Infant mortality: 3.17
Average lifespan: 81.11 years
School life expectancy: 18 years
Education expenders: 7.8% of GDP
*Urban Population: 93% of total population
** Contraceptive
prevalence rate: 64.8%
In comparing the correlation between birth rates and higher % of
catholic countries we can see that countries like Italy and the Philippines who
have close to the same % of Catholics in their populations (80-82%) but have
birth rates with large disparities, Italy with 8.94 /1000 births and the Philippines
with 24.62/1000 births. The birth rates
fluctuate between the low % of catholic countries as well, with South Africa
19.14/1000 births compared to Japan at 8.23/1000 births and Iceland 13.15/1000
births. Italy was the only country with a high catholic population and lower
birthrate than other countries, but on average it seems that the Catholic
Ideology has little to no influence on the outcome of births in most countries.
Another variable that caught my interest was the contraceptive
prevalence rate, which indicates the percentage of women (15-49) who are using
a type of birth control who are married or a union. This does not include men or single women; it
is interesting to note that in all the countries show the contraceptive
prevalence rate over 50%, regardless of the % of Catholics.
I had initial predicted that countries with lower education, or
those who contributed less money to their education system would have higher
birth rates, this proved not to be the case. Maybe their education sectors have a curriculum
on sexual education and pregnancy prevention, (we barely have it here in the
U.S.) but who’s to say if they did it would really have any influence over behaviors.
With the exception of the Philippines (that information was not available) the
amount spent on education was all above average (which is typically 4%) and did
not fluctuate with the birth rate totals. Maybe just being educated in general
would have a weight against irrational, ideological thresholds.
Neither did the amount of
years spent in the school system; school life expectancy, with the exception of
the Philippines which happened to have the lowest school life expectancy at 11
years and the highest rate of births 24.62/1000 births or any difference in the
funding public resources seem to manipulate birthrate.
One other disappointing variable was the urban population %. My thoughts were that the greater the
population density, the more subjected one was to resources like clinics,
hospitals and non-profits would have a more dramatic influence on birth rates over
those who lived in rural areas with less access. Unfortunately that variable
did not prove to be any more significant than the others, with the exception
again with the Philippines who had the lowest urban population of just less
than half 48.8% the population and the highest birth rate.
If we look at geographical placement, upper or lower hemisphere
we can compare Iceland (upper) and South Africa (lower) and see that there
fairly noticeable difference, like infant mortality or mortality in general is
much higher than in Iceland. They could also be divided by weather they are a developing
country or not. Mexico, Puerto Rico, Philippines, South Africa and Poland are
still developing while Ireland, Italy, Japan and Iceland but lastly these variable
seem to not have a concurrent effect.
In the end I feel that I was looking at the wrong
variables or
needed different countries to prove a better correlation, but I feel
that according to my data this definitely disproves that religious ideology effects the major
outcome of social behavior.
Footnotes:
*This field describes the percentage of the total population
living in urban areas, as defined by the country.
**This field gives the percent of women of reproductive age
(15-49) who are married or in union and are using, or whose sexual partner is
using, a method of contraception according to the date of the most recent
available data. The contraceptive prevalence rate is an indicator of health
services, development, and women’s empowerment. It is also useful in
understanding, past, present, and future fertility trends, especially in
developing countries. –CIA World Factbook
Also looked at these web sources:
Pew Report
OECD Better Life Index
No comments:
Post a Comment