There are different sects and sub-groups of Amish.
The strictest sect is called the Swartzentruber Amish, and they currently make up 7% of all Amish. This is the group that completely and entirely shuns all electricity, only rides by buggy, and has the longest church meetings. The Swartzentruber Amish, despite being ridiculously strict, or perhaps because of this, have the highest retention rate of any Amish group.
There are huge differences in birth rates, too — the Swartzentruber Amish have a TFR (total fertility rate) of 10. As in, the average woman in their sect will have ten children in her lifetime. Families of fifteen or even twenty children in those who marry very early are not unheard of. Other members of the Amish in less-strict sects typically have lower birth rates of around five children per woman. Still nearly triple the American national average, but far lower.
In states like Pennsylvania, you may encounter Amish “parking” their horse and carriage at the local Wallmart before going shopping. The strictest of the Old Order Amish would never do this — only a relatively “modern” Amish would be open to entering a Wallmart; the Swartzentrubers would never be caught dead there. They strictly eat what they produce themselves and nothing else.
Due to their high birth rate and large retention rate, the total population of Amish people DOUBLES every twenty years. At this rate, they will go from roughly 400,000 members in 2026 to as many as seven million members in 2100. The future of America is Amish; you may not like it, but horses, carriages, churned butter and wide-rimmed hats is what peak demographic performance looks like.
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