Since 1992, the Amish population across the United States has doubled from around 120,000 to 230,000, according to the Chicago Tribune. It might have something to do with the fact that most Amish parents have five children. “Be fruitful and multiply,” indeed.
I think that’s pretty impressive. I mean, in the last 23 years, I haven’t doubled my population, and I’m just one guy, yet the entire Amish faith did it in 16.
Just FYI, the Amish began as Anabaptist Christians in 17th-Century Switzerland before immigrating to Pennsylvania to escape persecution. To this day, they speak a dialect of German called Pennsylvania Dutch.
Living simply (no electricity, no cars, no iPods) is part of their faith, which emphasizes humility and hard work. While the rest of the U.S. has modernized, Amish communities are pretty much the same today as they were 300 years ago. But despite the notion that they’re an old, dying tradition, the population numbers seem to suggest that they’re thriving. Plus, nearly half of the Amish population is under the age of 21.
While they have a reputation for being backwards, close-minded, and haughty, I spent some time in the Amish village of Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania a few years ago (outside of Philly), and they were, without exception, some of the kindest and friendliest people I have ever encountered.
For some great fictional looks at Amish life:
Witness, starring Harrison Ford
The Outsider, starring Naomi Watts
The Village, by M. Night Shyamalan (not actually about the Amish, but focuses on a similar concept)
