No non-religious population has sustained above-replacement fertility for a century

Evidence

Although we looked hard at all available data and case studies back to early Greece and India, we still have not been able to identify a single case of any non-religious population retaining more than two births per woman for just a century. Wherever religious communities dissolved, demographic decline followed suit. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 497

Categorization

• XREF: Core demographic mechanism feeding the reader’s claim about prosocial-religion group survival; relevant alongside Norenzayan’s own fitness argument. — connects to: Religious affiliation predicts above-replacement fertility independent of income and education; Religious belief correlates with higher fertility, shrinking secular populations; Religious groups offset secularization losses through higher birth rates — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 630 (+1 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 497

Broader Connections

• Fertility and age structure dwarf conversion in shaping religious demographics. #expands (0.82) — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 34
• Religious belief correlates with higher fertility, shrinking secular populations #corroborates (0.80)
• Religious affiliation predicts above-replacement fertility independent of income and education #corroborates (0.78)
• Religious groups offset secularization losses through higher birth rates #qualifies (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 630