EFFECT OF WAR ON BIRTH RATE
Effect of War On Birth Rate Vital and Sickness Statistics for Germany and Austria During the European Conflict Disclosed by Government A study of official reports of warring countries will...
...For the purpose oi comparison the rates in some cities of Great Britain and of neutral coun tries are given below...
...THE Zeit reports that the number of cases of infectious diseases among the civil population notified in Vienna fell in December, 1917, to 1,475...
...thus, the number of officers increased by 15.4 per cent, while that of domestic servants, who were formerly the most numerous class of the pop-nation, declined by 23.7 per cent...
...7.9 16.4 Frankf ort-on-the-Main...
...There was an excess of births over deaths in 1914 of 280,but in 1915 the deaths were more numerous by 84, and in 1916 by 183...
...Lower Austria: Births Deaths Difference 1913 ____ 73,103 60,010 * 13,093 1916...
...THE Neue Freie Presse states that genera...
...In Austria the food cards represent 1,000 calories per capita per day, but these are not always obtainable...
...9.4 12.4 Nuremberg...
...He comes to the conclusion that the increased mortality in 1914 was to be" ascribed to the hot summer, bad economic conditions, and want of employment...
...Thus under this heading "Congenital debility" appears in 1913 eighteen times, in 1914 seventeen times, and in 1915 twenty-six times...
...now the position is reversed...
...The influence of the war showed itself most strongly in the statistics relating to occupations...
...25.4 20.5 Glasgow.................22.3 15.4 Edinburgh...
...In four of them the excess is over 100 per cent, viz., in Hamburg 163 per cent, in Leipzig 145 per cent, in Chemnitz 121 per cent, and in Dresden 108 per cent...
...Rott proves, with the help of extensive and clear statistical matter, that the increased infantile mortality in town and country during the first year of the War was followed by a considerable decrease in 1915, while at the same time there was a decline in the birth rate...
...Even more significant as to the influence of the War are the figures for illnesses with a fatal termination...
...6, 1917) thus summarizes these three publications...
...Effect of War On Birth Rate Vital and Sickness Statistics for Germany and Austria During the European Conflict Disclosed by Government A study of official reports of warring countries will furnish a more truthful, if not more interesting story, than the distorted tales sent out by either side as propaganda...
...20.4 21.3 Birmingham...
...Cause of War Dropsy...
...These figures do not include all the men from the army who died in the Friedenau military hospital, but only those who were finally reported to the police authorities in Friedenau...
...19.0 12.1 Berne...
...As a further condition for the public care of infants Dr...
...21.1 13.3 Christiania...
...The statistics are for four weeks, the last half of December, 1917, and the first half of January, 1918: Birth Death Rate Rate Berlin...
...Before the War the excess of births over deaths in Austria was about 300,-000 a year...
...There was a regular decrease from year to year in the number of males, amounting in the end to 693, while the number of households increased by 1,402...
...14.0 22.9 Stettin...
...175,965 127,221 *48,741 1916...
...In the second publication he pays special attention to the public institutions for the care of infants and young children, and emphasizes the necessity of providing nursing rooms in factories, creches, and day nurseries, which are becoming more and more necessary, owing to the increase in the number of gainfully engaged women...
...The number of these rose from 0 to 2 in 1914, 19 in 1915, and 24 in 1916...
...Influence of War EQUALLY unmistakable is the influence of the War in fatal cases of stomachial and intestinal catarrh (dysentery) and other affections of the stomach and intestines...
...The statements are authentic, being taken from the May Review United States Labor Department.—Editor's Note...
...8.3 9.7 Dusseldorf...
...87,401 122,276 t34,875 * minus tplus The birth rate has fallen in lower Austria 39 per cent, in Bohemia 40.7 per cent, in Moravia 48.1 per cent...
...It is to be noted that the highest figures are recorded not for 1916 but for 1915...
...The same is the case also with the fatal diseases which developed from violent injuries, which number 253 in 1915 and only 182 in 1916...
...7.0 18.4 Cologne...
...10.8 17.9 The preceding figures show that in all of these 12 cities the death rate greatly exceeded the birth rate...
...Birth and Death Rate...
...women largely took the place of men as teachers...
...Rott, senior physician and superintendent of the Auguste-Victoria Home for the combating of infant mortality...
...Altogether 3,455 persons died, compared with 8,267 in November, 1917, and 2,935 in December, 1916...
...12.5 17.2 Hanover...
...8.1 17.9 Breslau...
...17.4 13.9 Stockholm...
...10.4 14.8 Chemnitz...
...the per cent of children who died in their first year was 6.2 in 1913, 7.5 in 1914, 9 in 1915, and 9.4 in 1916...
...If this goes on Austria must perish," is the conclusion of Prof...
...9.2 9.5 Hamburg...
...Rauchberg...
...As the fall continued in 1917, the number of births in that year can hardly amount to half the normal...
...On December 31, 1913, the population numbered 44,869, and on December 31, 191(3, it was 44,809, showing a decline during this period of 0.13 per cent...
...IN THIS connection the following figures, as published by the Handelsblad, relating to the birth and death rates in various large German cities, may be of interest...
...THE question of the birth rate and infant mortality in Germany during the War has been treated very thoroughly in three publications by Dr...
...On the other hand, the decrease in the number of children born alive seems to have been not without influence on the number of infant deaths...
...13.4 20.7 Leipzig...
...The Sociale Praxis (Dec...
...A circular has been issued by the' governor of Bohemia directing the raising of the flour rations for persons suffering from "war dropsy" from 500 to 725 grams (1.1 to 1.6 pounds) per week...
...13.2 15.5 Dublin . .|..|..|..|..|..|...25.4 18.8 Amsterdam...
...In the three periods in 1915 which have been compared by Dr...
...Rott's views as to the extension of social welfare work in peace time are for the most part met by proposals well known...
...The British figures are for the week ended January 5, 1918: Birth Death Rate Rate London...
...The number of marriages fell in the same period 36.6 per cent...
...The cause of it is a watering of the blood through insufficient nourishment, superinduced by overwork and cold...
...The amount of food must be increased so as to supply 1,200 to 1,400 calories a day...
...The number of births fell from 725 in 1913 to 312 in 1916, or 57 per cent...
...43,950 66,225 f22,275 Bohemia: 1913...
...6.5 15.9 Dresden...
...Rott endeavors by a detailed inquiry to ascertain what reasons exist for the variations and decline of infantile mortality, and whether and and to what extent the decline of infant mortality is connected with and is attributable to the decline in the birth rate...
...The systematic relief afforded by the imperial maternity and nursing allowance has brought about the decline of the mortality figures...
...Those due to organic diseases of the heart numbered 14 in 1914, 38 in 1915, and 34 in 1916...
...22.3 15.0 Copenhagen...
...In the Saxon Erzgebirge, where the daily ration actually contains 1,400 calories per capita, the disease does not occur...
...The Kommunale Praxis gives the following figures and other particulars relating to the movement of the population between 1913 and 1916 in Berlin—Friedenau, one of the constituent suburbs of Greater Berlin, which is inhabited largely by officials, merchants, small shopkeepers, etc...
...Decline in Berlin IN THE third publication he dwells expressly on the future cooperation of the sick funds of the workmen's insurance system in the great aim of improving the national hygiene...
...7n 8 later issue the same daily states that a conference of physicians in West Bohemia met recently to consider a report on famine edema or "war dropsy...
...Rott advocates registry 'offices for nurseries and public control by trained persons of day nurseries...
...The figures given for lower Austria and Bohemia are: Number of Births and Deaths in Lower Austria and Bohemia, 1913 and 1916...
...The mortality during that month was greater than in the first two years of the War...
...In the first of these publications Dr...
...The total number of deaths rose from 307 in 1913 to 318 in 1914 and 583 in 1915, and fell to 495 in 1916...
...Hence this article, when read with the proper perspective, gives a most interesting side light on the effects of the war in Germany and Austria...
...Old people most readily fall victims to the hardships accompanying war...
...while arteriosclerosis was responsible for 29 deaths in 1913, 30 in 1914, 89 in 1915, and 75 in 1916...
...19.8 12.0 Conditions in Austria...
...In the Bohemian Erzgebirge, up to October, 1917, 25,000 c^ses of "war dropsy" were noted, of which' 1,000 ended fatally...
...Deaths due to tuberculosis rose from 16 in 1913 to 21 in 1916...
...Rott the number of children born alive rn 18 towns declined by 31,008, or 23.8 per cent, and this decline was accompa-n'ed by a decline of 34.9 per cent in infant mortality...
...24.0 14.4 Liverpool...
...The lower figures for 1916 lead one to the conjecture that by this time the weaker had already been eliminated by a process of natural selection...
...statistics of births, deaths, and marriages in Austria have not been published since th« outbreak of the War, but from an examination of the municipal returns in those Provinces which have not been ravaged by invasion, Prof, H. Rauchberg (Prague) shows that while the death rate remains much the same, the birth rate has so seriously diminished that the number of deaths greatly exceeds the number of births...
...Nervous troubles also show an increase, which is evidently to be attributed to the War, from 0 in 1913-14 to 7 in 1915, and 8 in 1916...
...At the same time infant mortality increased...
Vol. 10 • June 1918 • No. 6
