This article analyses the long-term development of social class differences in infant and child mortality in an area of southern Sweden, spanning from the early stages of the mortality transition at the beginning of the nineteenth century, to the late 1960s when both infant and child mortality had reached very low levels. Our findings show that infant and child mortality was fairly equal at the beginning of the study period. We find no clear pattern of class differentials in childhood mortality in the first half of the nineteenth century when both infant and child mortality declined. Later in the nineteenth century, class differences started to emerge. This is clear for both post-neonatal mortality and child mortality, while we do not find any class differences in neonatal mortality. Over time, a more or less full gradient emerged for post-neonatal mortality, and a weak gradient also emerged for child mortality. Strikingly, the disadvantaged position for unskilled and lower-skilled workers remained throughout the 1960s, also at a time when mortality levels were very low, and living standards had increased dramatically for all classes in the population.

中文翻译：

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早期生活中的不平等：1815-1967 年瑞典南部儿童死亡率的社会阶层差异

本文分析了瑞典南部地区从 19 世纪初死亡率转变的早期阶段到 1960 年代后期婴儿和儿童死亡率社会阶层差异的长期发展。死亡率已达到非常低的水平。我们的研究结果表明，在研究初期，婴儿和儿童死亡率相当。我们发现在 19 世纪上半叶婴儿和儿童死亡率均下降时，儿童死亡率没有明显的阶级差异模式。十九世纪后期，阶级差异开始出现。这对于新生儿后死亡率和儿童死亡率都很明显，而我们没有发现新生儿死亡率有任何阶级差异。随着时间的推移，新生儿后死亡率出现了或多或少的完全梯度，而儿童死亡率也出现了较弱的梯度。引人注目的是，在整个 1960 年代，非技术和低技术工人的不利地位仍然存在，当时死亡率非常低，人口中所有阶层的生活水平都急剧提高。