Religious belief correlates with higher fertility, shrinking secular populations

Evidence

Nevertheless, it is far from clear to me that secular societies will win the race for cultural longevity. On one hand, we have the powerful forces of secularization gaining ground in some places—more economic prosperity, greater existential security, strong secular institutions, and mass exposure to higher learning, science, and analytic thinking. This means that people in these societies are on the verge of moving beyond prosocial religions. But prosocial religions have one crucial advantage over secular ones—the demographic windfall of more children. And that religious advantage is the secularists’ Achilles’ heel—in fact, the most secularized societies are having the fewest children. This means that what prosocial religious groups lose against the forces of secularization, they gain in reproduction. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 630 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

To put those numbers into perspective, the total number of Christians globally in 2015 was 2.3 billion. The total number of Muslims in 2015 was 1.8 billion, while the religiously unaffiliated comprised 1.2 billion of the world population (Pew Research Center 2017, 8). Thus, the net impact of religious switching on demographic changes is dwarfed by the larger population growth factors of fertility rates and age distribution. — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 34 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Religious affiliation predicts above-replacement fertility independent of income and education; Religious fundamentalism’s demographic growth will reshape the secular West; Dramatic demographic expansion is what makes a religion a world religion (+7 more)

Related

• Dramatic demographic expansion is what makes a religion a world religion (similarity 0.93)
• Religious affiliation predicts above-replacement fertility independent of income and education (similarity 0.92)
• Religious conservative sexual norms serve demographic group survival (similarity 0.89)
• Religious groups offset secularization losses through higher birth rates (similarity 0.89)
• Religiosity is only one factor impacting fertility rates, and is intertwined with educational opportunities, economic development, and age of marriage amongst other factors. (similarity 0.88)
• No non-religious population has sustained above-replacement fertility for a century (similarity 0.86)
• Rates of religious switching do not reflect moral decay (similarity 0.86)
• Religious switching barely affects global religious demographics. (similarity 0.86)
• Fertility and age structure dwarf conversion in shaping religious demographics. (similarity 0.86)
• Religious disaffiliation is intertwined with economics and education, not merely a demographic cause. (similarity 0.85)
• Religious worship frequency linearly predicts higher fertility across 82 countries (similarity 0.84)
• Religious affiliation raises fertility even after controlling for education and income (similarity 0.82)
• Religious population growth follows age structures, with Christianity aging out already in Europe. (similarity 0.82)
• By 2050 only one in five Christians will be of European descent (similarity 0.82)
• Religious switching had minimal impact on projected demographic changes, with conversions generating only 0.3% of Muslim growth. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Religious groups offset secularization losses through higher birth rates #corroborates (0.92) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 630
• Fertility and age structure dwarf conversion in shaping religious demographics. #qualifies (0.85) — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 34
• Specifically, I will examine recent demographic data from the Pew Templeton Global Futures project Changing Global Religious Landscape Report published in April 2017. This report outlines… #qualifies (0.80)
• White nationalists believe this increase in switching to religiously unaffiliated causes lower fertility and birth rates for Western women. William Kilpatrick writes that ‘The decline of… #expands (0.78)
• Religious conservative sexual norms serve demographic group survival #expands (0.75)
• Secular institutions, atheist prevalence, and religiosity decline reinforce each other in a self-amplifying loop #contradicts (0.72) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 315