How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too)

by David Goldman

Another factor is religious practice, itself inversely correlated with literacy. The more frequently Muslims attend mosque, the more likely they are to have big families, according to the World Values Survey—although data are available for only a small number of countries, and from years during which rapid change was under way. A third of the 88 percent-literate Turks never attend the mosque, according to the WVS polls, along with a quarter of 82 percent-literate Iranians (some recent news reports put mosque attendance in Iran even far lower)—and in both countries fertility is below replacement. By contrast, only a fifth of Egyptians never visit a mosque, and their fertility is correspondingly higher, at around 3 children per woman. And in illiterate Mali only 3 percent of respondents say they never to go a mosque—and the fertility rate jumps to 5.5 children per woman.