RESUMO
Following Salvatore and the WHO, in this article, we provide the first long-term estimates of malnutrition rates for Chile per birth cohort, measured through stunting rates of adult males born from the 1870s to the 1990s. We used a large sample of military records, representative of the whole Chilean population, totalling over 38 thousand individuals. Our data suggest that stunting rates were very high for those born between the last three decades of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century. In addition, stunting rates increased from the 1870s to the 1900s. Thereafter, there was a clear downward trend in stunting rates (despite some fluctuations), reaching low levels of malnutrition, in particular, from the 1960s (although these are high if compared to developed countries). The continuous decrease in stunting rates from the 1910s was mainly due to a combination of factors, the importance of which varied over time, namely: Improved health (i.e., sharp decline in infant mortality rates during the whole period); increased energy consumption (from the 1930s onwards, but most importantly during the 1990s); a decline in poverty rates (in particular, between the 1930s and the 1970s); and a reduction in child labour (although we are less able to quantify this).
Assuntos
Desnutrição , Nitratos , Adulto , Coorte de Nascimento , Criança , Chile/epidemiologia , Transtornos do Crescimento , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , Desnutrição/epidemiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: During the twentieth century, Chile experienced an important reduction in general mortality. AIM: To describe both general and infant mortality of Chile from 1909 to 2017. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Analysis of information about births and deaths published by the Chilean National Institute of Statistics for the period between 1909 and 2017. RESULTS: Both general and infant mortality rates declined sharply from the 1930s to the late 1990s. However, during the last few years, general mortality rates increased slightly. This is the first increase in over a century. Another positive aspect is that there was a dramatic decrease in mortality rate gaps across Chilean regions, for both general and infant mortality. However, intraregional inequalities in infant mortality continue to be a detrimental factor. CONCLUSIONS: Public health efforts should be carried out to further reduce socioeconomic and regional gaps in adult and infant mortality in Chile.
Assuntos
Mortalidade Infantil , Saúde Pública , Academias e Institutos , Adulto , Chile/epidemiologia , Humanos , Lactente , MortalidadeRESUMO
Background: During the twentieth century, Chile experienced an important reduction in general mortality. Aim: To describe both general and infant mortality of Chile from 1909 to 2017. Material and Methods: Analysis of information about births and deaths published by the Chilean National Institute of Statistics for the period between 1909 and 2017. Results: Both general and infant mortality rates declined sharply from the 1930s to the late 1990s. However, during the last few years, general mortality rates increased slightly. This is the first increase in over a century. Another positive aspect is that there was a dramatic decrease in mortality rate gaps across Chilean regions, for both general and infant mortality. However, intraregional inequalities in infant mortality continue to be a detrimental factor. Conclusions: Public health efforts should be carried out to further reduce socioeconomic and regional gaps in adult and infant mortality in Chile.
Assuntos
Humanos , Lactente , Adulto , Mortalidade Infantil , Saúde Pública , Chile/epidemiologia , Mortalidade , Academias e InstitutosRESUMO
This article traces inequality and numeracy development in the regions of Chile during the 19th and early 20th century. Inequality, measured with anthropometric methods, was associated with a lower speed of human capital formation. Not all talents received the necessary education to make full use of their talent for the regional economy, especially in the south in the early period. However, Chile became slightly less unequal over time and more numerate during the late 19th century. In addition, we study the correlates of low-intensity immigration in Chile. Regions with a relatively high share of North European migrants developed faster in terms of numeracy.
Assuntos
Emigração e Imigração , Chile , Escolaridade , HumanosRESUMO
This article contributes to the study of inequality in the biological welfare of Chile's adult population during the nitrate era, ca. 1880s-1930s, and in particular focuses on the impact of socioeconomic variables on height, making use of a sample of over 20,000 male inmates of the capital's main jail. It shows that inmates with a university degree were taller than the rest; that those born legitimate were taller in adulthood; that those (Chilean born) whose surnames were Northern European were also taller than the rest, and in particular than those with Mapuche background; and that those able to read and write were also taller than illiterate inmates. Conditional regression analysis, examining both correlates at the mean and correlates across the height distribution, supports these findings. We show that there was more height inequality in the population according to socioeconomic status and human capital than previously thought, while also confirming the importance of socioeconomic influences during childhood on physical growth.
Assuntos
Estatura/etnologia , Prisioneiros , Prisões , Adolescente , Adulto , Criança , Chile , Humanos , Masculino , Classe Social , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Adulto JovemRESUMO
A sample of over 44 thousand Chilean marines was used to estimate the trend of mean heights from the 1820s to the 1890s. We confirm that there was height stagnation in the last decades of the nineteenth-century Chile despite sizeable per capita GDP growth; there were hidden nutritional costs to this economic growth. This situation resembles a similar puzzle in antebellum USA or early industrial Britain, but in the case of Chile GDP growth is not explained by industrialization but by export-led-growth. Still, the results are similar: height stagnation. Regarding the determinants of adult male height, our data also convincingly showed that there was a significant correlation between height and literacy. There was a positive correlation between height and white ethnicity, and, linked to this, a strong negative correlation between stature and eyes reported as "black". Finally, living in urban environments (or environments with higher population density) also negatively affected height.
Assuntos
Antropometria/história , Militares/estatística & dados numéricos , Fatores Socioeconômicos/história , Adolescente , Adulto , Estatura , Chile/epidemiologia , Desenvolvimento Econômico , Etnicidade/história , Etnicidade/estatística & dados numéricos , História do Século XIX , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Militares/história , Densidade Demográfica , Adulto JovemRESUMO
This article provides the first height estimates for the adult population for any period of Chilean history. Based on military records, it gives an analysis of the average heights of male soldiers in the last eight decades of the colonial period, c.1730-1800s. The average height of Chilean men was around 167 centimetres, making them on average taller than men from Mexico, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Venezuela, but of a similar height to men from Sweden. However, Chilean men were clearly shorter than men in neighbouring Argentina, the USA and the UK. Chilean height remained stable during the 1740-1770s, but it declined by some 2-3 centimetres between the 1780â¯s and the 1800s, in line with a fall in real wages due to increasing food prices and population growth.