Volume 37 - Article 58 | Pages 1861–1890  

The geography of early childhood mortality in England and Wales, 1881–1911

By Hannaliis Jaadla, Alice Reid

Abstract

Background: Considerable regional variation existed in 19th-century infant mortality (IMR) in England and Wales.

Objective: This study estimates early childhood mortality (ECMR) for over 2,000 registration subdistricts (RSDs) of England and Wales and analyses spatial and temporal variations in IMR and ECMR between 1881 and 1911.

Methods: The combination of mortality statistics from the Registrar General and individual-level census data from the Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) project is used to estimate spatial models of the relationship between early childhood death rates and a range of district-specific contextual variables.

Results: All regions of England and Wales experienced noticeable decline in early childhood mortality, but the spatial patterns were remarkably persistent, with high mortality in London and in the mining and textile centres. The earlier decline of childhood than infant mortality produced a widening gap between them, and in early phases this development was concentrated along the East-Midlands coastal area from Suffolk to North Yorkshire, and in mid-Wales. This gap continued to widen, and in 1911 IMR was at least twice as high as ECMR in most parts of England and Wales.

Conclusions: The changing spatial pattern of ECMR was influenced by a set of factors over and above those that influenced IMR, and these were related more to the disease environment than to social and economic influences.

Contribution: These new estimates of early childhood mortality, at a finer spatial scale than previously possible, highlight the vast spatial variation in mortality in England and Wales. It is likely that these regional differences also manifest in variation in other demographic outcomes.

Author's Affiliation

• Hannaliis Jaadla - University of Cambridge, United Kingdom EMAIL
• Alice Reid - University of Cambridge, United Kingdom EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Educational heterogamy during the early phase of the educational expansion: Results from the university town of Tartu, Estonia in the late 19th century
Volume 43 - Article 13

Socioeconomic and cultural differentials in mortality in a late 19th century urban setting: A linked records study from Tartu, Estonia, 1897-1900
Volume 36 - Article 1

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Exploring the mortality advantage of Jewish neighbourhoods in mid-19th century Amsterdam
Volume 46 - Article 25    | Keywords: 19th century, Amsterdam, cause-specific mortality, historical demography, inequality, Jewish neighborhoods

Maternal education and infant mortality decline: The evidence from Indonesia, 1980–2015
Volume 45 - Article 24    | Keywords: infant mortality, maternal education

Are parents and children coresiding less than before? An analysis of intergenerational coresidence in South Korea, 1980–2015
Volume 45 - Article 1    | Keywords: fertility decline, intergenerational coresidence, Korea, mortality decline, Sullivan method

Age patterns of under-5 mortality in sub-Saharan Africa during 1990‒2018: A comparison of estimates from demographic surveillance with full birth histories and the historic record
Volume 44 - Article 18    | Keywords: age patterns of mortality, child mortality, demographic surveillance, infant mortality, neonatal mortality, sub-Saharan Africa, under-five mortality

Urban–rural differentials in Latin American infant mortality
Volume 42 - Article 8    | Keywords: convergence, health transition, infant mortality, Latin America, parametric models, urban advantage, urban penalty