RECENT FERTILITY DECLINE IN DARIUSLEUT HUTTERITES - AN EXTENSION OF EATON AND MAYERS HUTTERITE FERTILITY STUDY

A church book that has been routinely updated by the Dariusleut Hutter ites enabled us to update some fertility tables presented by Eaten and Mayer in the 1950s. The age-specific (nuptial) fertility rates and th e total fertility rates (TFRs) were calculated for every 5-year period from 1901-1905 to 1981-1985. Our calculations for Dariusleut, one of the three sects of the Hutterites, gave slightly lower age-specific nu ptial fertility rates before 1951 compared with the figures given by E aten and Mayer (1953) for all Hutterites in the corresponding time per iods. The recent decline in Hutterite fertility, especially at higher maternal ages, was confirmed in this study. The TFR, given as a sum of 5-year-grouped age-specific nuptial fertility rates from 15 to 49 yea rs of maternal age, was higher (8.80-9.83) in the years 1946-1965, but it declined to 8.13 in 1966-1970, to 7.22 in 1971-1975, to 6.39 in 19 76-1980, and to 6.29 in 1981-1985. For the age groups 35-39 years and older the age-specific nuptial fertility rate in 1981-1985 decreased b y more than 50% compared with the rate during the peak period of 1951- 1955. The probability of a married woman having a live birth at each a ge from 15 to 49 years still peaked around the twentieth year of life, as found by Eaten and Mayer (1953), but it decreased more rapidly fro m the late twenties among the recently married women, most evidently i n their thirties.