Determinants of infant and child mortality in 19-century Russian village: Individual- and household-level analysis

In the present paper authors estimate infant and child mortality rates in Vykhino estate (region of Moscow) during 100 years (1815-1918) on the basis of individual records from the parish registers. Data set includes information on 10100 births and 7750 deaths, among them 5300 deaths of children aged 0-4.
The authors will explore the effect of certain demographic variables, such as parents’ age, birth order and birth intervals, sex, season of birth, household size and structure, on probability to die at age 0 and 1-4. We will also study the seasonality and causes of infant and child deaths.
Our findings show a notable decline in infant and child mortality since the end of the 19th century which might be considered as a sign of incipient demographic transition. Nevertheless, even declined, infant and child mortality rates remain high and the causes of death as well as determinants of infant and child mortality remain “pre-modern”.