Het Nederlandse geboortepatroon en de godsdienstfactor gedurende de laatste halve eeuw

Samenvatting

A comment on E. W. Hofstee's statement re the causes of the relatively high birth rate in the Netherlands (See SA 1837-B2107). According to Hofstee, this phenomenon was chiefly caused by the geographical isolation of the southeastern part of the country re Dutch & foreign cultural centers & also by a mentality, in that region resulting from the fact that in the 17th & 18th cent's it didn't belong to any of the 7 states of the Federal Dutch Republic, but was governed directly by the central gov. Van Heek first remarks that the birth level in the Netherlands is still + 15 - 26% higher than in socially comparable WestEuropean countries. Hofstee's above-mentioned theory is rejected because it is not thought possible to separate the influence of the religion & isolation factors in the region mentioned, as non-Catholic municipalities do not exist in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. Considerable diff's are noted in birth & human fertility rates between socially comparable municipalities in the eastern part of the country, where Roman Catholic & non-Roman Catholic municipalities are situated in close proximity. Socially, this eastern region is very isolated from the cultural centers of the western & northern Netherlands. Hofstee is deemed right re locating the beginning & the geographical spread of the decline in the Dutch birth rate, but he has paid little attention to the strong resistance of the Roman Catholic church to this decline, esp in the predominantly Catholic parts of the country. (See SA 1837-B2107, -B2108, & -B2131). Modified AA.