Rural Infant Mortality in Nineteenth Century Norway

Abstract

uch previous research on the Norwegian mortality decline has focused on specific localities, employing databases with linked microdata. One good choice is Rendalen, a parish on the Swedish border, representative of the world record low Norwegian mortality rates. The focus on the role of women, given their access to more abundant material resources towards the end of the eighteenth century, is a most interesting explanation for the declining level of infant mortality. Another well-researched locality is the fjord-parish Etne, south of Bergen, where infant mortality was significantly higher – also an area where the role of women is highlighted. More recent studies have been done on Asker and Baerum, south of Oslo, with infant mortality levels closer to the national average. The present article will not attempt to match these penetrating studies of wellresearched rural localities, nor William Hubbard’s insights into many aspects of urban mortality. Rather it broadens the scope to include the whole country. My study is limited primarily to Norway’s sparsely populated rural areas, where 90 percent of the population lived in 1801, a figure that was declining towards 60 percent by 1900, when the national infant mortality rate (IMR) had fallen below ten percent. My basic aim is to track the development of infant mortality rates in Norway over time, and, where possible, to say something about regional differences in the proportion of children who died before they reached their first birthday. The