Infant Mortality in Post-Reform Russia: Dynamics, Regional Differences and the Role of Traditional Norms

Abstract

The article analyzes dynamics and regional differences in infant mortality in the post-reform Russian Empire. Based on extensive statistical, ethnographic and medical sources, the authors have shown that the infant mortality rate depended primarily on traditional practices of infant feeding and caring rather than on income, literacy or access to medicine. High infant mortality rate among the Great Russian population (compared with other ethnic and religious groups) was primarily due to the early stop of breastfeeding and solid food feeding. The latter sometimes began in the first days of baby’s life. The authors’ conclusions are consistent with the results of similar studies carried out in European demographic history and show that the use of infant mortality as an indicator of the population living standard in agricultural societies cannot always be justified. Consequently, it is unreasonable to draw conclusions about the stagnation of living standards in pre-revolutionary Russia on the basis of the infant mortality rate.