Project: The long-term development of public health

The aim of this project is to analyze the factors that have contributed to improving the survival rate of children and adults in the recent and more distant past.

The project uses various designs, datasets and specific questions and is based on published statistical information included in electronic databases, micro-data and qualitative sources of information. The most important sources are statistical mortality data at the municipal level relating to a period of one and a half centuries and to a representative sample of about 75,000 children born in the Netherlands in the years 1812-1922 (HSN), a database containing information about fertility and mortality in the families of doctors practising in the years 1850-1930, and micro-databases containing information about vital events in the municipality of The Hague and in the provinces of Zeeland, Groningen, Drenthe and Gelderland. The main themes are social and religious differences in mortality rates, the influence of family circumstances on later life mortality, clustering of infant deaths, regional mortality differences and the role of medicine in the mortality decline.

Publications

Bengtsson, T. & F. van Poppel (2011),

Socioeconomic inequalities in death from past to present: An introduction. Explorations in Economic History 48 (3): 343-356. [pdf]

Ekamper, P., F. van Poppel, C. van Duin & K. Mandemakers (2011),

Heat waves and cold spells and their effect on mortality: An analysis of micro-data for the Netherlands in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Annales de Démographie Historique 48 (2): 55-104. [pdf]

Poppel, F. van (2011),

Trends in mortality and the evolution of the cause-of-death pattern in the Netherlands: 1850-2000. In: Th. Engelen, J.R. Shepherd & Y. Wen-shan (eds.), Death at the opposite ends of the Eurasian continent; mortality trends in Taiwan and the Netherlands 1850-1945. Amsterdam; Aksant, p. 17-44.

Schenk, N. & F. van Poppel (2011),

Social class, social mobility and mortality in the Netherlands, 1850-2004. Explorations in Economic History 48 (3): 401-417. [pdf]

Poppel, F. van & P. Ekamper (2010),

Historische ontwikkeling van de sterfte in Nederland. In: A.H.P. Luijben & G.J. Kommer (eds.), Tijd en toekomst; deelrapport van de VTV 2010 Van gezond naar beter. RIVM-rapport 270061008, Houten: Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum, p. 20-25. [pdf]

Ekamper, P., F. van Poppel, C. van Duin & J. Garssen (2009),

150 Years of temperature-related excess mortality in the Netherlands. Demographic Research 21 (14): 385-426. [pdf]

Poppel, F. van, R. Jennissen & K. Mandemakers (2009),

Time trends in social class mortality differentials in the Netherlands, 1820-1920; an assessment based on indirect estimation techniques. Social Science History 33 (2): 119-153. [pdf]

Ekamper, P. & F. van Poppel (2008),

Zuigelingensterfte per gemeente in Nederland, 1841-1939. Bevolkingstrends, statistisch kwartaalblad over de demografie van Nederland 56 (1): 23-29. [pdf]

Ekamper, P. & F. van Poppel (2008),

Infant mortality by municipality in the Netherlands, 1841-1939. Dataset deposited with DANS - Easy Archiving System [Dataset Persistent identifier: urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-d9x-vke]

Poppel, F.W.A. van & R.I.A. van Gaalen (2008),

Sociale klasse, sociale mobiliteit en sterfte in Nederland, 1850-2007. In: I. Maas, M.H.D. van Leeuwen & K. Mandemakers (eds.), Honderdvijftig jaar levenslopen: de Historische Steekproef Nederlandse Bevolking. Boekaflevering Mens & maatschappij 83 (2008). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, p. 203-236. [pdf]

Poppel, F. van & R. van Gaalen (2006),

Opgroeien in Zeeland: veranderingen in de gezinsstructuur in Zeeland in de afgelopen anderhalve eeuw. Zeeland 15 (1): 33-43.

Poppel, F. van, I. Deerenberg, J. Wolleswinkel-Van den Bosch & P. Ekamper (2005),

Hoe lang leefden wij? Historische veranderingen in de levensduur en het doodsoorzakenpatroon. Bevolkingstrends, statistisch kwartaalblad over de demografie van Nederland 53 (3): 18-25. [pdf]

Poppel, F. van & A.C. Liefbroer (2005),

Living conditions during childhood and survival in later life - study design and first results. Historical Social Research 30 (3): 265-285. [pdf]

Zeegers, M.P.A., F. van Poppel, R. Vlietinck, L. Spruijt & H. Ostrer (2004),

Founder mutations among the Dutch. European Journal of Human Genetics 12 (7): 591-600. [pdf]