Fatal Years: Child Mortality in Late Nineteenth-Century America.

TLDR

The paper provides an overview of child mortality in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The authors analyze child mortality using 1900 census data, estimating rates, examining social, medical, economic, and residential factors, and comparing U.S. figures with England, Wales, and developing countries.

Abstract

This is an overview of child mortality in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Data are based on the census of 1900 and estimations derived from that data. The first chapter concerns the social medical and economic factors influencing child mortality. The second chapter focuses on estimates of child mortality during the late nineteenth century including an analysis of the estimation technics and their reliability. Next the authors address differentials in child mortality according to social economic and residential factors and analyze the relative importance of these distinguishing factors. Finally U.S. child mortality at the turn of the century is compared with that of England and Wales for the same time period and with contemporary child mortality levels in developing countries.