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The Amish Voice 13
The Amish Are Expanding to South America
As of May 2016, the estimated Amish population is 308,030.
This includes both children and adults and covers thirty one
states in the US and three Canadian providences. This year, the
Amish started two new settlements on Prince Edward Island,
located in Canada.
The population number only includes horse and buggy driving
Amish. Car driving Amish,
such as the Beachy Amish
and Amish Mennonites are
not included.
In the fall of 2015, some
New Order Amish people
from Ohio established two
settlements in Bolivia and
Argentina, located in South
America. These smaller
settlements are not included
in the North American
population.
Fifteen new settlements
were started during the past
year; eight other settlements
failed.
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and
Indiana continue to make up
about two-thirds of the
308,030 population.
Amish families average five or more children. At least eighty-
five percent of the population joins the Amish church. A few
outsiders have joined the Amish.
The population and other 2016 statistics were taken from the
Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown
College website.