Religiosity and Fertility: Jews in Israel

Abstract

We analyze the relationship between religiosity and fertility among Jews in Israel-a modern democracy in which there is no separation of religion and state. Micro-level data from the 2009 Israel Social Survey are used to perform multivariate analyses of the odds of having at least three children. The findings from separate analyses of women and men are consistent with a theoretical framework, outlined by McQuillan and C. Goldscheider, which suggests how religiosity affects fertility. In particular, measures of the importance of religious community explain in part the higher levels of fertility among some religiosity groups; attitudes toward religion as a social and political institution as well as norms regarding family building over the life course also partly account for the influence of religiosity on fertility. While women's employment activity is significantly related to their fertility, as many economic theories predict, controlling for paid work in regression models does not affect the estimated relationship between religiosity and women's fertility. We conclude that, in the current context, fertility variation across religiosity groups can be understood largely in terms of the cultural, political, and institutional power of religion, and the impact of religion through community, and via norms and ideals.

Fertility intentions and the way they change following birth- a prospective longitudinal study

“…Religiosity was the main predictor of prenatal fertility intentions. This is similar to findings from other national studies, which indicate that very-religious women have the highest fertility rates, followed by religious women, traditional women and secular women [25,27,30]. It is not surprising that almost all the very-religious women in our study reported desiring five children or more.…”

“…The very-religious are the smallest religiosity group (approximately 10% of Jewish women 20 years of age and older), similar to the religious (11%), the traditional group (35%) is larger and the largest group are the secular (non-observant Jews), making up 44% [28]. As with other religions [29], in Judaism, fertility rates are influenced by religiosity [21,25,30]. Israeli very-religious women have high fertility rates, nearing 6.5 children per women.…”

Fertility intentions and the way they change following birth—a prospective longitudinal study

“…Religiosity was the main predictor of prenatal fertility intentions. This is similar to findings from other national studies, which indicate that very-religious women have the highest fertility rates, followed by religious women, traditional women and secular women [24,26,29]. It is not surprising that almost all the very-religious women in our study reported desiring five children or more.…”

“…The very-religious are the smallest religiosity group (approximately 10% of Jewish women 20 years of age and older), similar to the religious (11%), the traditional group (35%) is larger and the largest group are the secular (non-religious), making up 44% [27]. As with other religions [28], in Judaism, fertility rates are influenced by religiosity [20,24,29]. Israeli very-religious women have high fertility rates, nearing 6.5 children per women.…”

Religiosity and marital fertility among Muslims in Israel

“…Mounting evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship been religiosity and fertility. Most of the evidence comes from studies of Christian and Jewish populations (Adserà 2006;Baudin 2015;Hayford and Morgan 2008;Mosher and Hendershot 1984;Neuman 2007;Neuman and Ziderman 1986;Okun 2017;Sander 1992;Zhang 2008). Fewer studies on the relationship been religiosity and fertility have been conducted among Muslims (Hleihel 2011;Kaufmann 2009;Westoff and Frejka 2007).…”