Assignment #3 [MICHAEL LEE]

Michael Lee

ASSIGNMENT #3

TABLE 1

Country	Catholic Population Percentage	Birth Rate per 1,000	Infant Mortality per 1,000	Total Fertility Rate	Contraceptive Prevalence Rate	GDP per capita	Population Below Poverty Line
Argentina	92%	17.12	10.4	2.27	78.9% (2004)	$18,400 (2011)	30%
France	83-88%	12.6	3.34	2.08	*76.4% (2008)	$36,300 (2011)	7.8% (2010)
Poland	89.8%	9.88	6.3	1.32	**72.7% (1991)	$20,900 (2012)	10.6% (2008)
Venezuela	96%	19.66	19.75	2.37	70.3% (1993)	$13,300 (2011)	31.6% (2011)
Slovakia	68.9%	10.27	6.35	1.39	***79.8% (1997)	$24,200 (2011)	21% (2002)
Philippines	82.9%	24.64	18.19	3.1	48.9% (2011)	$4,500 (2011)	26.5% (2009)

*percentage of women aged 20-49

**percentage of woman aged 20-49

***percentage of woman aged 15-44 (1997)

DATA COLLECTED:

o   Catholic Population Percentage: This data set was collected to show exactly what percentage of the population was Catholic.  This data set provided the basis of qualifying for the assignment requirement of the country being at least 65% Catholic Population percentage

o   Birth Rate per 1,000: This is the main data set needed to complete the assignment.

o   Infant Mortality Rate: This data set can be correlated directly to GDP per capita, showing that access to more resources is a huge factor in determining infant mortality

o   Total Fertility: This data set helped me see the geography of each country, seeing how many children each family typically had.  To no surprise, the countries with lower GDP per capita had the highest total fertility

o   GDP per capita: This data set was the main data set used for my argument against the belief that Catholicism correlates with birth control and low birth rates

o   Population below Poverty Line: This data set was used to show that higher rates of poverty correlates with higher birth rates

CONCLUSION:

A high percentage of Catholicism does not have correlation with high birth rates; factors such as poverty, contraceptive prevalence rate, and average income have greater correlation.  As seen in Table 1, the highest birth rate belongs to the Philippines where there are 24.64 births per 1,000 people.  The Philippines' GDP per capita for 2011 was $4,500.  Their contraceptive prevalence rate was also the lowest in table 1, at 48.9%.  Also, the population under the poverty line was at 26.5%.  On the other hand, France has the lowest population under the poverty line, statistics showing that only 7.8%.  Also, France was the country with the highest GDP per capita with $36,300.  France had a much higher contraceptive prevalence rate compared to the Philippines, at 76.4%.  France's birth rate is 12.6 per 1,000 people.  Both France and Philippines had a Catholic population percentage around 83%, but the Philippines have double the birth rate than France.  These statistics clearly show that the presence of Catholicism does not directly correlate to birth control and lower birth rates.  Another great example is Venezuela.  Venezuela has the highest percentage of Catholicism at 96%.  But, Venezuela has the second lowest GDP per capita with $13,300.  As a direct correlation, Venezuela also has the second highest birth rate at 19.66 births per 1,000 people; right behind the Philippines.

Table 2 and Figure 2 show the correlation between GDP per capita and birth rate:

TABLE 2

Country	GDP per capita	Birth Rate per 1,000
Philippines	$4,500	24.64

Venezuela

$13,300

19.66

Argentina	$18,400	17.12
France	$36,300	12.6

Slovakia

$24,200

10.27

Poland

$20,900

9.88

FIGURE 2

The above graph illustrates the correlation of GDP per capita being a dependent factor for birth rates.

OUTGROUP

TABLE 3

Country	Catholic Population Percentage	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Total Fertility Rate	Contraceptive Prevalence Rate	GDP per capita	Population Below Poverty Line
Russia	<2%	12.11	7.19	1.61	*79.5% (2007)	$18,000 (2012)	12.7% (2011)
Greece	<0.7%	8.94	4.85	1.4	**76.2% (2001)	$26,400 (2011)	20%  (2009)
Indonesia	3%	17.38	26.06	2.2	61.9%  (2011)	$5,100 (2012)	11.7% (2012)

*percentage of women under age 50

**percentage of women aged 16-45

CONCLUSION:

Table 3 demonstrates that Catholic Population Percentage does not correlate with birth rates; rather factors such as Population Below Poverty Line and GDP per capita are.  I tried to choose three countries with random geographies so that I would get a mixed result.  The data from Table 3 reiterates my conclusion from Table 1, Table 2, and Figure 2: that GDP per capita has a high correlation with birth rates.  Table 3 shows Indonesia with a GDP per capita of $5,100 and a Population Below the Poverty Line of 11.7%.  These two factors make Indonesia the country with the highest birth rates with 17.38 births per 1,000 people.  Table 3 also shows Greece has the highest GDP per capita with $26,400 and highest Population Below Poverty Line with 20%.  These two factors result in Greece having the lowest birth rate in Table 3 with 8.94 births per 1,000 people; almost doubling the birth rate of Indonesia. 

            The data I collected and analyzed from The World Factbook clearly shows that the presence of Catholicism does not correlate with birth control and birth rates.  The correlation I concluded from my data shows that GDP per capita and Population Below Poverty Line has a high correlation with birth rates.  Though there is a technologically conservative prohibition against birth control among Catholic populations, the prohibition does not exist in behavior.