Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 202-205. (Budapest, 2008)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - VARGA, Gabriella: A comparative study of the social-political determinants of infant and child mortality in Sweden and Hungary 1850-1945. - Összehasonlító tanulmány a svéd és a magyar csecsemőhalandóság szociálpolitikai tényezőiről 1850 és 1945 között

chy. Capital of Hungary consisted from three parts Buda, Óbuda and Pest which were united in 1873 under name of Budapest. Reader might find names Buda, Pest or Pest-Buda in the earlier literature referring to the same city called nowadays Budapest. (Magyar, 2004) Results IMR and child mortality in Hungary and Sweden The middle of the 19

th century was the first period when it became possible to compare the two countries' average IMR. Hungarian data showed 100% higher numbers than Swedish data, according to Weszelovszky (1882) out of 1000 live born infants about 300 died in Hungary compared with 150 died in Sweden (SCB). Estimated Hungarian data shows an increase in IMR from the average of 284 in the 1850s to 334,2 in the 1870s, followed by a decrease of 35% in the following 30 years. (Weszelovszky, 1882) After this, the decrease slowed down reaching an average of 207 in the 1910s, and 200 ten years later. (Magyarország népessége és gazdasága, 1996) Figure 2. - Swedish and Hungarian infant mortality per 1000 live born (IMR) 1852-1995 Hungarian IMR between 1852-1878 is based on estimated data from Weszelovszky (1882), while data after 1891 derived from time-series of the Magyarország népessége és gazdasága. Múlt és jelen. Budapest. 1996. The Swedish source: SCB