Urban mortality in Greece: Hermoupolis (1859-1940 (original) (raw)
Related papers
The History of the Family, 2021
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.
Island mortality in the past: some evidence from Greece
Journal of biosocial science, 2008
This paper explores the course of infant and childhood mortality in the Greek island of Paros from the end of the nineteenth until the mid-twentieth century. For this purpose the method of family reconstitution has been applied to two towns on the island. Official population statistics have been used to derive basic mortality estimates for the Cyclades and Greece as a whole. Reference to other studies concerning island mortality is also made. Hence, there appears the chance to compare insular with mainland mortality and realise that insular mortality presented some distinct features. It is shown that island populations presented lower mortality than the national average until the first decades of the twentieth century. However, by the 1950s Greece's infant and childhood mortality had dropped to the same or even to lower levels than those of the islands.
Historical Life Course Studies, 2022
This paper employs individual level cause of death data from the port city of Hermoupolis on the Greek island of Syros, in order to test the newly-constructed ICD10h coding system. By constructing cause specific death rates for infants from the late 19th century to early 20th century, the paper contributes to a comparative approach, which aims to show how causes of death differ across several locations within Europe and how they develop over time. Given the scarcity of cause of death data both at the individual and aggregate level in Greece roughly prior to the 1920s, the availability of such data in the draft death registers (for sporadic runs of years in the second half of the 19th and early 20th century) and the civil registration (from 1916 onwards) in Hermoupolis provides a deeper understanding of the history of cause-of-death reporting in the country. Infant mortality in Hermoupolis was relatively high throughout the study period, with water-food borne diseases accounting for the highest number of infant deaths, especially during the hot and dry summer months. While the prominent winter peak of neonatal mortality but also congenital-birth disorders could be partially associated with birth seasonality and/or low temperatures over the winter months. Finally, certain vague terms such as 'atrophy' and 'athrepsy', but especially 'drakos' require further investigation until they are firmly understood.
LONG-TERM TRENDS AND RECENT UPTURNS IN REGIONAL MORTALITY VARIATIONS IN GREECE
Great regional variations in mortality within a country reflect unequal social and economic development and an ineffective health system. On the other hand, small mortality variations from one region to another indicate more homogeneous development and a relatively equal access to the national health system. Greece has made remarkable progress in this respect over the last 35 years. The current paper documents this progress in two ways: firstly, by inspecting regional variations in infant and in general mortality from 1981 onwards and second by associating indexes of economic and social development of each region with its level of mortality. A gradual convergence of the mortality rates across the country and a consequent de-association of the per capita income from the mortality level of an area point to a more effective welfare system over the examined period. The only ambivalent period is that of 2009-2014, where no progress is recorded in infant mortality, probably because of the cuts in public health spending, stemming from an acute economic crisis which started in 2009.
Trends of Mortality Rates During the Last Thirty Years in Greece
Journal of Medical Systems, 2000
General mortality rates and specific mortality rates by major causes of death (coronary disease, cancer, tuberculosis, traffic accidents, suicide, vascular disorders of central neural system) in Greece have been studied throughout the 30-year period 1967-1996 and time trends have being calculated by nonlinear models of trend analysis. The results confirm the general pattern of decrease of mortality in Greece during the particular period of time as a result of the combination of the impact of two controversial trends: on one hand the decrease of infant mortality and mortality from infectious disorders and on the other the relatively slower and more gradual increase in mortality rates by disorders related to the western lifestyle culture, such as cardiovascular disorders and cancer. During the period under study in Greece the impact of the second trend seems to inflict less severe implication in the formulation of the pattern of general mortality especially as women are concerned. This statistically significant and gradually increasing difference in mortality between men and women in Greece has been confirmed in general mortality time trends as well as in the evaluation of the relatively better pattern of mortality trends of women from particular "western lifestyle" disorders.
Recent mortality trends in Greece
Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods, 2017
This work examines the mortality characteristics of the population of Greece for the years 1961 to 2014. The time period considered is of special interest for the modern demographic history of the country, since it is characterized by enormous developments on economic, political and social grounds. The life tables of the male and female population of Greece were constructed and several mortality indicators like life expectancy at chosen ages were calculated. For the purpose of analysis a statistical technique for smoothing the age-specific death rates in order to estimate the theoretical age-specific probabilities of dying was developed. This technique consists of a combination of the nine-parameter version of Heligman-Pollard formula proposed by Kostaki
Greece since the 1960s: the mortality transition revisited: a joinpoint regression analysis
Journal of Population Research, 2023
Mortality transition in Greece is a well-studied phenomenon in several of its aspects. It is characterised by an almost constant increase in life expectancy at birth and other ages and a parallel decrease in death probabilities. The scope of this paper is a comprehensive assessment of the mortality transition in Greece since 1961, in the light of holistic analysis. Within this paper, life tables by gender were calculated and the temporal trends of life expectancy at several ages were examined. Moreover, a cluster analysis was used in order to verify the temporal changes in the mortality patterns. The probabilities of death in large age classes are presented. Furthermore, the death distribution was analysed in relation to various parameters: the modal age at death, mode, left and right inflexion points and the length of the old age heap. Before that, a non-linear regression method, originating from the stochastic analysis, was applied. Additionally, the Gini coefficient, average inter-individual differences, and interquartile range of survival curves were examined. Finally, the standardised rates of the major causes of death are presented. All the analysis variables were scholastically examined for their temporal trends with the method of Joinpoint Regression analysis. Mortality transition in Greece after the year 1961 is asymmetrical with a gender and an age-specific component, leading to the elevation of life expectancy at birth over time. During this period, the older ages' mortality decreases, but at a slower pace than that of the younger ones. The modal age at death, mode, the left and right inflexion points and the width of the old age heap denote the compression of mortality in the country. The old age death heap shifts towards older ages, while at the same time, the variability of ages at death decreases, being verified by the Gini Coefficient and average inter-individual differences. As a result, the rectangularization of survival curves is evident. These changes have a different pace of transition over time, especially after the emergence of the economic crisis. Finally, the major causes of death were the diseases of the circulatory system, neoplasms, diseases of the respiratory system and others. The temporal trends of these diseases differ according to the diseases and gender. Greece's mortality transition is an asymmetrical stepwise process characterised by its gender and age-specific characteristics. This process, despite being a continuous one, is not linear. Instead, a Extended author information available on the last page of the article K. N. Zafeiris 1 3 3 Page 2 of 31 combination of serious developments over time governs the country's modern mortality regime. The evaluation of Greece's mortality transition through the lens of more advanced analytical methods may provide new insights and methodological alternatives for assessing mortality transition in other countries of the world.
Mortality in the Greek Community of Odessa in 1800–1920
Evrydiki Sifneos, Valentyna Shandra and Oksana Yurkova (Eds.), Port-Cities of the Northern Shore of the Black Sea: Institutional, Economic and Social Development, 18th – Early 20th Centuries. – Rethymnon, Crete 2021. – xlii + 472 pp. (ISBN: 978-618-85195-3-4), 2022
Urbanism and its impact on human health: a long-term study at Knossos, Crete
2023
https://www.barpublishing.com/urbanism-and-its-impact-on-human-health.html Urbanism and its Impact on Human Health demonstrates how social, economic and political changes impacted the everyday lives of the people of Knossos, at the fundamental level of their health and diet, during the Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique periods. Knossos, in north-central Crete, was an important site in Aegean and Mediterranean networks throughout this timespan, though the city experienced cycles of urban development and decline. As an extensively studied and well-documented site, it provides a unique opportunity to study long-term phenomena associated with its varied past. The present osteological and isotopic research is integrated with previous work on material culture and textual sources to provide a contextualised interpretation of the lifeways and social history of the people of Knossos.