Diseases, health status, and mortality in urban and rural environments: The case of Catholics and Lutherans in 19th-century Greater Poland

Authors:

• Grażyna Liczbińska

Abstract

The aim of the study is to show in the mortality measures calculated for Catholics and Lutherans from 19th-century Greater Poland: 1) stratification dependent on the size of place of residence, 2) stratification dependent on religious denomination in population centres of various size. The data on mortality are drawn from Catholic and Lutheran parish death registers: from Poznań (the poor Catholic St. Margaret's Parish, the wealthy St. Mary Magdalene's Parish, and the Lutheran Holy Cross Parish), small towns such as Leszno (the Lutheran Holy Cross Parish) and Kalisz (the Catholic St. Joseph's Parish) as well as the rural Lutheran parish of Trzebosz and the Catholic parish of Dziekanowice. Stratification in the causes of death and mortality measures among Catholics and Lutherans from 19th-century Greater Poland depends on the size of their places of residence and broadly understood ecological conditions. Smaller deleterious effects of the environment were observed in the rural areas and small towns and, therefore, a relationship between death rate values and religious denominations is more visible in these than in Poznań. The cultural benefits accruing to the Lutherans and Catholics living in 19th century Poznań were insufficient to reduce the high infant death rate.