A Note on the Effect of Religiosity on Fertility

Abstract

Very few studies have examined the effect of religiosity on fertility at the macro level. This note extends these studies by using a larger data set and more advanced econometric techniques. In addition, this note estimates the macro-level effect of religiosity on fertility both for a total sample of 25 Christian countries between 1925 and 2000 and for three subsamples: Catholic, Protestant, and mixed Catholic-Protestant countries. Results show that religiosity, in general, has a positive long-run effect on fertility. However, this effect is not significant for Catholic countries.