4 ms·
This note at the bottom, about high mortality rates in the past, is always striking to remember: "My grandmother casually horrified us a few years ago by going
by adventured 5y ago
This note at the bottom, about high mortality rates in the past, is always striking to remember:
"My grandmother casually horrified us a few years ago by going through the list of her dead siblings: 2 died on the farm of ‘summer diarrhea’ (bovine tuberculosis from unpasteurized milk) as infants, an unremarkable fate in the area, and then 3 died in their teens–20s after moving to the city to work in textile factories. The rest died later. For comparison, she lost 1 child out of 5 (stillbirth), and 0% of her >12 grandchildren/great-grandchildren."
Several years ago an older friend of mine recounted to me that his father was one of three siblings to survive the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920, six of his brothers and sisters died from it.
- lordnacho 5y agoIndeed. What I found interesting is that when I looked up the stats, the death rates for under 1 year olds has continued to decline even in recent decades. I had previously thought it would have stalled after the things you mentioned had been solved. My guess is premature births have much higher survival now than 20 or 40 years ago.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoI would assume that the birth rate going down considerably amongst poorer people is a big factor too. https://www.statista.com/statistics/562541/birth-rate-by-poverty-status-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/562541/birth-rate-by-pov...
- germinalphrase 5y agoA side effect of the abortion debate has been significant financial investments by the pro-life in premature birth research. The earlier it is possible to define viability, the earlier abortions can effectively be banned.