Младенческая смертность в Москве в 1939-1949 гг.

Демографическое обозрение. 2025. Т. 12. № 1. С. 57–85.

Denisenko M. B., Kvasha E. A., Хавраева Ю. В.

For a long historical period, infant mortality contributed significantly to the mortality of the entire population in Russia and its regions. In Moscow the age under 1 year accounted for 24% of all deaths in 1939.

In the same year, the infant mortality rate in the capital, according to the estimates obtained, amounted to 153.6‰. Despite the most difficult period of the war years, in 1944 the infant mortality rate fell below the pre-war level, and five years later it decreased to 68.6 - a value never before achieved in the history of the city. This article considers the dynamics of infant mortality, the transformation of its structure by age of death and causes of death, as well as the factors causing these changes over a ten-year period from 1939 to 1949. The study was based on unpublished statistical data and documents stored in state archives. It was found that mass migration (evacuation and

re-evacuation) affected the dynamics of infant mortality rates. The introduction of new medicines played a crucial role in the reduction of infant mortality starting in 1943. In addition, a complex of government measures in maternal and child health care (organisation of additional nutrition for pregnant women and breast milk donors, restoration of the district system of childcare, improvement of the work of women's and children's consultations, etc.), as well as general anti-epidemic and sanitary measures taken in the city, play a significant role in its positive dynamics.
As a result, neonatal mortality decreased approximately 1.8 times over the decade under study, mainly due to such causes as respiratory diseases and certain conditions arising in the perinatal period. The post-neonatal mortality rate decreased even more, by a factor of 2.5, mainly due to infectious, digestive and respiratory diseases.
As a consequence of such changes, the gap in the infant mortality rate between Moscow and a number of Western countries and their largest cities was significantly reduced.

Keywords: младенческая смертность, infant mortality, cause of death, причины смерти, история здравоохранения, охрана материнства, Великая Отечественная война, история Москвы, history of Moscow, the Great Patriotic War (the 1941–1945 War), history of health care, infant mortality rate

Publication based on the results of: Demographic development of Russia in the first quarter of the XXI century and its prospects until 2050 (2024)