Abstract
The originality of this study lies in its use of individual microlevel data in reference to a medium-size urban community, the Sardinian municipality of Alghero. For the first time in the urban Italian context we are able to analyse the role of socio-economic determinants and environmental conditions affecting infant and mortality for the cohorts born between 1866 and 1930.
The present study was carried out within the framework of the research project “Filling the gap: an Italian population microanalysis from the demographic ancient regime to the first transition”, coordinated by Marco Breschi and funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. We would like to thank the staff of the Alghero Historical Municipal Archive, Baingio Tavera and Gianfranco Piras for their invaluable help and cooperation.
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Notes
- 1.
Information on brides’ occupations was not used since the female categories were deemed inaccurate and inadequate; in the overwhelming majority of cases the expression used is “housewife”.
- 2.
This does not necessarily mean they had adequate professional training.
- 3.
This plan included a plant in echelon formation with the national road towards Sassari—now Via Vittorio Emanuele—serving as a pintle. The present-day Via Mazzini and Via XX Settembre were aligned to this street, which then intersected with the road corresponding to the Via IV Novembre before widening into an open square. There were also four parallel streets to the left and right of Via Nazionale, intersected by eight side streets. The plan also included the urbanisation of the area recovered by the transfer of the cemetery elsewhere and the creation of a large public park (now Giuseppe Manno Park).
- 4.
Information available in the 1921 Census on the socio-professional status of female heads of family is imprecise and inadequate; in most cases the category used is “housewife”. For this reason and considering their advanced ages, we have grouped female family heads with retired heads (“Housewives and retired”).
- 5.
Reconstruction of the individual life-histories of Alghero’s population proved to be quite complex, given that no Stati Animarum were available—a common situation in almost every Sardinian parish (Anatra and Puggioni 1983)—and only small fragments of population registers were found in the municipal archive.
- 6.
The borders of the municipality and parish coincided perfectly at the time, meaning the population of reference was essentially the same for both registration systems.
- 7.
The national proportion of illegitimate births increased from about 5 % (1862–1865) to 6.2 % in the 3-year period after the introduction of the law, to over 7.5 % in the mid-1880s. Not surprisingly, this increase was particularly pronounced in the ex-territories of the Church state, where roughly 1 child in 5 was recorded as illegitimate. This phenomenon was partly counterpoised through natural legitimizations after civil marriage and a specific decree, leading to about half of illegitimate births eventually becoming legitimated (Benini 1911).
- 8.
This issue is complex, controversial and little explored at the national level. See the specific paper dedicated to this subject based on the empirical evidence derived from this case study (Breschi et al. 2012).
- 9.
In the micro-level analysis of neonatal mortality, we adopted two models: one including the total number of births (live and still); and the second using only live births.
- 10.
Having adopted a cohort approach, we used the number of births for the years 1866–1930 and deaths for 1866–1935. We used two sets: the first covering all babies born to couples living in Alghero; the second including babies born to couples whose demographic history from marriage (civil or religious) can be reconstructed and whose presence in Alghero can be measured (until the fifth birthday of the last born). This was an attempt to capture the effects of migration on the measurement of infant-child mortality. The differences prove insubstantial, which is an indirect sign of the small incidence of migration, which was most often limited to single, predominantly male adults and not evident in Alghero until the twentieth century.
- 11.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the probability of dying in the first year of life as opposed to in later childhood was more than double in France and Belgium, whereas in Italy the ratio was 1.2 and in Spain it was almost equal. There are strong regional differences within the Italian Kingdom, particularly in the south where this structural “Mediterranean” component was even more pronounced (Pozzi 2000).
- 12.
The infant mortality rate (Fig. 7.1) calculated on the basis of the total number of births, regardless of the official statement on viability, is over-estimated.
- 13.
- 14.
For a reconstruction of the role of malaria in Sardinia as well as a detailed analysis of the causes of the virulent resurgence of malaria after Italian unification, see Eugenia Tognotti (1996). Despite the gravity of the situation, significant countermeasures were not adopted until the mid-20th century, with a program funded by the Rockefeller Foundation that aimed to eradicate the vectors of disease (Donelli and Serinaldi 2003; Tognotti 2009).
- 15.
In Italy, childbirth certificates were introduced in the late nineteenth century, but only for hospital births. At that time, very few women chose a hospital birth, and most of those who did were unmarried mothers. It is essential to take account of each mother’s entire reproductive history to understand the risk factors for the health of an individual baby. See a recent study carried out at Udine hospital (Driul et al. 2010).
- 16.
The covariates are those included in the previous model (Tab. 7.2). Three different models were applied for each set of births using the social classes: Un/lower Skilled; Farmers; Skilled Elite.
- 17.
In Italy, the cut-off point between historical and contemporary demography is taken as coinciding with national unification (1861). Only from that time do we have a uniform statistical documentation for the whole country at our disposal. However, whereas studies on historical demography based on individual data rarely venture beyond 1860–1880, those on contemporary demography based on individual data essentially refer to the 1970s and later. The period 1880–1960 has become a sort of “no-man’s land” for demographic studies based on individual data. For this reason, the process of demographic transition, at least in Italy, remains largely unexplored from a micro-analytic perspective.
- 18.
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Breschi, M., Esposito, M., Mazzoni, S., Pozzi, L. (2016). A Slow Transition. Infant and Child Mortality Decline in a Sardinian Community: Alghero (1866–1935). In: Ramiro Fariñas, D., Oris, M. (eds) New Approaches to Death in Cities during the Health Transition. International Studies in Population, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43002-7_7
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