Has the New Natalism Reduced the Religious Fertility Advantage?

Abstract

Abstract Religion has historically been a pronatalist force, but because it fosters traditional gender role attitudes, its importance for fertility has the potential to wane if gender equality is emerging as the new natalism. We used World Values Survey (WVS) data from 1989 to 2020 to determine whether the religious fertility advantage has changed over the last three decades, with a particular focus on low‐fertility countries where egalitarian gender role attitudes are most likely to support childbearing. The fertility advantage associated with holding traditional gender role attitudes has indeed decreased over time, but this had at best a minimal effect on the religious fertility advantage.