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.

A restudy of a Holmes County, Ohio-focused analysis (2015 vs. 1988 data) continues to find evidence supporting wealth flow, institutional, and ideological explanations for high Amish fertility levels.
Average parity declined slightly from 5.3 in 1988 to 4.85 in 2015, confirming a slow fertility decline within persistently high fertility.
The conservative Andy Weaver denomination had the highest fertility (5.43) but declined the most (-13.8%). Moderate Old Orders declined 10.4% to 4.66. More progressive New Orders increased 5% to 5.04 but are not necessarily more progressive than Old Orders anymore.
Farmers had a parity of 5.95 vs 4.45 for non-farmers while church leaders had 6.29 v. 4.57 for laity, confirming institution and ideology predict fertility levels.
Future Amish fertility research will decompose complex variables, apply rigorous methods, and incorporate larger data samples.