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Marital Fertility and Religion: Recent Changes in Spain

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  • Adsera, Alicia

    (Princeton University)

Abstract

Since the onset of democracy in 1975, both total fertility and Mass attendance rates in Spain have dropped dramatically. I use the 1985 and 1999 Spanish Fertility Surveys to study whether the significance of religion in fertility behavior – both in family size and in the spacing of births – has changed. While in the 1985 SFS family size was similar among practicing and non-practicing Catholics, practicing Catholics portray significantly higher fertility during recent years. In the context of lower church participation, religiosity has acquired a more relevant meaning for demographic behavior. Among the youngest generation, non-practicing Catholics behave as those without affiliation. The small group of Protestants and Muslims has the highest fertility and interfaith unions are less fertile.

Suggested Citation

  • Adsera, Alicia, 2004. "Marital Fertility and Religion: Recent Changes in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 1399, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1399
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Demographic Economics > Religion and Fertility

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    Cited by:

    1. Guido Heineck, 2006. "The relationship between religion and fertility: Evidence from Austria," Papers on Economics of Religion 06/01, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    2. Baudin, Thomas, 2010. "A Role For Cultural Transmission In Fertility Transitions," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 454-481, September.
    3. Laura Cavalli & Alessandro Bucciol & Paolo Pertile & Veronica Polin & Nicola Sartor & Alessandro Sommacal, 2012. "Modelling life-course decisions for the analysis of interpersonal and intrapersonal redistribution," Working Papers 25/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    4. Margarita Delgado & Gerardo Meil & Francisco Zamora-López, 2008. "Spain: Short on children and short on family policies," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(27), pages 1059-1104.
    5. Tomas Frejka & Charles F. Westoff, 2006. "Religion, religiousness and fertility in the U.S. and in Europe," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-013, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    6. Tomas Frejka & Charles F. Westoff, 2008. "Religion, Religiousness and Fertility in the US and in Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 5-31, March.
    7. Paraskevi Peristera & Anastasia Kostaki, 2007. "Modeling fertility in modern populations," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 16(6), pages 141-194.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    religiosity; fertility; Spain; religion; timing of births;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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