![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
This paper compares fertility behavior in the Netherlands and Taiwan during the second half of the twentieth century. It focuses on the influence of religion on fertility among Catholics in both countries by looking at compliance with Church teachings relating to fertility. The article discusses the development of fertility rates in the Netherlands and Taiwan, and to what extent these processes were affected by cultural, social and economic changes during the researched period. Subsequently, attitudes regarding birth control, extra-marital sex and interfaith marriage among Catholics in the Netherlands and Taiwan are analyzed and compared with those of other denominations. The opinions of Dutch Catholics on these matters are retrieved from surveys in 1965, 1966 and 1968; those in Taiwan in 1970 and 1979. Finally, the article shows how comparing fertility attitudes and behavior in Christian and Buddhist/folk religion countries serves to understand the way adherence to “scripture-based religions” affects demographic behavior.
☆ This research was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).
Notes
☆ This research was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).