Demographic transition appears to have occurred earlier among European Muslims than among their co-religionists in other parts of the world. However, in all European Muslim communities birth rates appear to be higher than those of their Christian neighbours, though to a varying extent. An alternative interpretation of the figures in their historical context suggested that the higher birth rates of Muslims may be the reaction of a minority population which feels threatened by the majority, and which is reluctant to adopt its cultural values. Its size has tripled during the last half-century. A survey carried out by INED in 1988 among women born between 1938 and 1969 has shed light on the radical changes that have occurred during the last 20 years.
Women have access to contraception at younger and younger ages.
Non-medical methods of contraception continue to be used, but for shorter and shorter periods. The non-parametric method of analysis used to study the interactions between variables provides interesting results which are of some relevance to population policies. First, women in Pikine do in fact practise a form of birth control, but only after the premature death of a child, or at parities higher than the sixth. Secondly, the arrival of a new child does not appear to increase the risk of the preceding child dying in childhood. Life expectancy at birth was about 52 years, the excess mortality rates of women appeared early, at the age of about two months and continued until they were about 40 years old.