America’s Amish EXPLOSION: Why the buggy-riding population that doesn’t use technology has DOUBLED in size since 2000 and could hit one million this century [Video]

11:35 EDT 16 Apr 2024 , updated 18:43 EDT 16 Apr 2024

America’s low-technology Amish sect has doubled in size since 2000 and will hit 1 million members this century as it spreads far beyond its Pennsylvania heartland, new research shows.

Steven Nolt, an expert on the Amish, told DailyMail.com that its 378,000-strong US population was doubling every 20 years, thanks to families with lots of children who most often stick to the faith.

Amish communities have spread beyond their traditional areas of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, with fledgling outposts as far afield as Maine, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and Idaho, said Nolt.

The expansion underscores the tightness of a group that eschews technology to focus on family time, even as modern America grapples with cell phones and social media that may harm kids’ mental health.