Child Mortality During the Demographic Transition A Longitudinal Analysis of a Rural Population in Southern Sweden, 1776-1894

"The great decline in mortality has had a vital impact on our societies since life expectancy has more than doubled in the past 200 years, but the reasons for it are still not clear. Most of the decline before 1900 was in infant and child mortality, the latter of which is the subject matter of this thesis. Mortality for the age group 1 to 14 in four Scanian rural populations for the period 1766 to 1894 is analyzed by means of a multivariate hazard regression model. The model includes both childhood and early life determinants, such as disease load, nutrition intake, socio-economic status, and birth season. A three-period subdivision of this model accounts for enclosures, land partitionings, and industrialization, making it possible to compare how transition from one type of society to another affected child mortality. The empirical analysis shows that children with a high disease load during the foetal stage and infancy experienced increased mortality; in other words that conditions very early in life influenced mortality in childhood."Johansson, Kent is the author of 'Child Mortality During the Demographic Transition A Longitudinal Analysis of a Rural Population in Southern Sweden, 1776-1894', published 2004 under ISBN 9789122020783 and ISBN 9122020780.