Birth Rates, Contraception Usage, and Demographic Data Relating to the Beachy Amish-Mennonite Churches
Working paper, updated in 2010.
Original version:
Harrisonburg, VA: James Madison University.
Anderson, Cory. 2005.
Reviving the Demographic Study of the Amish.
Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies
Colyer, Cory, Cory Anderson, Joseph Donnermeyer, Rachel Stein, and Samson Wasao. 2017.
5(1):96-119.
Research Points
- Amish are difficult to study using traditional survey methods, but they produce registries (“directories”) that can be leveraged for non-intrusive analyses
- Benjamin McKune digitized Holmes County, Ohio, Amish directories 1965-2010, linking households, but died before completing data cleaning
- Findings from a limited analysis of McKune data include: Amish population grew 200% over 45 years (doubling time 30 years); stable sex ratio, median age, and family size; gradually decreasing family size and lower infant mortality rates in recent decades
- In service of future demographic research, an exhaustive review of Amish demography literature aggregates key findings
- Conversions to the Amish are very low
- Wide population pyramid bottom signals disproportionately young population
- Completed fertility around 6.3 to 7.8; fertility has remained high across 20th century
- Typical marriage age in lower 20s; marriage limitations are imbalanced gender rations,
relatedness, and denominational boundaries - Parents have children younger, older, and more frequently than national averages
- Intervals between births increases with time, except first to second is shorter than wedding to first
- Birth control is discouraged, but some couples use it
- Nuances of Amish fertility profile: high twinning rates, low out of wedlock conceptions, spring birth trough remains
- Fertility positively associated with farming status, large childhood family, ordained, and conservative districts / affiliations.
- Infant mortality has dropped, but high birth rates have not
- While birth complications seem high, Amish also have lots of children
- Few stillbirths and infant deaths: low drug / alcohol use, low STDs, social support, nutrition, modern medical access
Access Related Content From The Project: "Population Structure—Fertility, Mortality, Composition"
The Persistently High Fertility of a North American Population: A 25-Year Restudy of Parity among the Ohio Amish
Population Studies
Wasao, Samson, Cory Anderson, and Christian Mpody. 2021.
75(3):477-86.
Collecting and Analyzing Micro Data about the Amish, a Rapidly Growing Ethno-Religious North American Population.
Population Association of America annual conference. Virtual.
Anderson, Cory, and Samson Wasao. 2021.
Persistently High Fertility in a Low Fertility Context: How Do America’s Amish Heterogeneously Respond to Fertility-Reducing Structural Incentives?
Presented at the Population Association of America annual conference. Atlanta, GA.
Anderson, Cory, George Hayward, Shuai Zhou, Guangqing Chi, and Mary Shenk. 2022.
The Population Structure of the Amish: The Demographic Architecture of One of America’s Fastest Growing Groups
Presented at the Population Association of America annual conference. New Orleans, LA.
Anderson, Cory, and Stephanie Thiehoff. 2023.
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