Why were infants dying and what were they dying from? Infant mortality patterns in the Greek urban centre of Hermoupolis, Syros (1860–1940)

ABSTRACT The reduction in infant mortality has been a significant component of mortality decline in all north-western European populations. Infant mortality in Greece has been studied before, though most rates refer to rural populations or short periods of time; while the national ones have been based on multiple assumptions. Only rarely there is available evidence about the evolution of infant mortality in urban Greece in a long-term perspective. This paper, therefore, fills this gap by employing individual-level data, a rare collection of oral histories and qualitative sources from the major urban centre of Hermoupolis, on the Greek island of Syros, for the period 1860–1940. Infant mortality in Hermoupolis was found to be among the highest in the country for most of the study period. Even though it had been argued that infant mortality in Greece declined in the 1930s, Hermoupolis experienced an earlier decline, situated in the late 1890s. Main factors that were found to be related to this decline include wider access to water, changes in the registration system, fertility decline, improvements in living standards and nutrition among lower strata infants and improvements in maternal literacy. Diarrhoeal diseases killed most infants especially during the hot and dry summer months. Despite the widespread practice of breastfeeding in the city, seasonality analysis indicated the early initiation of supplementary food. This paper contributes to the existing literature by extending our understanding of the factors that facilitated the reduction of urban infant mortality beyond Western Europe and North America.