Family Limitation Among the Old Order Amish

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Abstract
The Indiana [USA] Amish, a high-fertility Anabaptist population, regulate their marital fertility according to their family finances. Demographic data from the Indiana Amish Directory was linked with personal property tax records at 5, 15 and 25 yr after marriage and fertility differences were found by occupation and wealth. Correlations between family size and wealth at the beginning, middle and end of childbearing years were positive. Wealthier women exhibited higher marital fertility, had longer 1st birth intervals, were older at the birth of their last child and had larger families than poorer women. Over the past 30 yr, marital fertility remained constant among older women; birth rates among younger women have risen rapidly.

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