British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 704

CHAPTER XVI.

the family of the bride, such a correlation is also likely to be found. Data on marriages in Palestine, which are available only for The period 1936-44, seem to conform with the general rule. During the years of disturbances and economic depression (1936-38), the marriage rate was 7.7per1,000 Moslem inhabitants, a level neither higher nor lower than in many other countries. In fact, among countries of the world for which data are available for the period 1936-38, 24 had a rate big her than that found among the Moslems of Palestine and 18 had a lower one. Since 1938, the nuptiality rate has increased very rapidly; in 1939-1941 it was on an average 11.5 per 1000 inhabitants and in 1942-44 it reached 13.1. Rates like those are almost unparalleled in international statistics. The basis for a high rate of nuptiality lies in the universality of marriage among Moslems, the tendency to marry at young ages and the high frequency of re-marriage of widowed and divorced persons of both sexes. The tendency for the rate to increase so considerably is explainable only with reference to improvements in the standard of living.

169. Fertility. Whilst among Western populations fertility is rapidly decreasing, the partial process of Westernization undergone by Palestinian Moslems, has not, up to now, resulted in any significant measure of birth control among the mass of the people. Among the overwhelming majority of the Moslem population a contrary phenomenon has appeared. As shown by table 8, fertility of the Moslem women not only has not decreased, but has shown an upward trend. At present, the average number of children born to a Moslem woman during her fertile life is about 8 as compared with 6 in 1927-29. Such a high figure is a rarity in modern demographic statistics, and it exceeds very considerably the figures found in the most fertile countries of the world, including Egypt (table 9). The crude birth rates of Palestinian Moslems are among the highest recorded in world statistics.

High fertility is not by itself indicative of a high standard of life. Primitive people show in general greater fertility than advanced peoples, owing to the practice of birth control among the latter. Nevertheless increases in fertility in the case of population known not to practice contraception is reliable indirect evidence of an improver] standard of life. Thus in Oriental societies it has been found that the well-to-do have, in general, larger families than the poor.

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