Religion and Contraception in Mozambique: A Multidimensional Analysis

Victor Agadjanian, Arizona State University

Studies on religion and demographic behavior often fail to situate religious affiliation and involvement in a proper sociocultural context. In addition, most studies focus on individual-level religious markers and rarely conceptualize and measure the influence of community religious milieu. I use unique recent data from a population-based women’s survey in a district of southern Mozambique and an institutional survey of all religious congregations in that district to examine variations in use of modern contraceptives between women with and without religious affiliation and across main denomination categories. Preliminary analyses show a significantly higher prevalence of contraceptive use among Catholics and possibly Mission Protestants, net of other factors. I also find that higher attendance is positively associated with contraception. Finally, I detect a positive effect of community religious diversity on individual contraceptive use. These results are interpreted within the historical context of social and demographic change in Mozambique and similar settings.