Oriental Studies (Dec 2020)
Mortality Rates among Muslim Population of the Southern Urals, 1860s – 1910s: an Insight into the Gender and Age Structure
Abstract
Introduction. The article discusses the sex and age structure of deceased Muslim individuals in Orenburg and Ufa Governorates in the mid-19th – early 20th centuries. Goals. The study aims to identify certain characteristics of sex and age structure thereof during the period under consideration. Materials and Methods. The paper mainly analyzes statistical data published by the Central Statistical Committee affiliated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire. Statistical, descriptive, and comparative-historical research methods were employed. Results. The study shows that the mortality rate of Muslim population of the Southern Urals in the examined period was significantly determined by infant and child mortality. Statistical data show that the level of infant mortality among Muslims was much lower than that among Orthodox Christians. This is explained by that Bashkir and Tatar women fed infants with breast milk all the way up to the age of 2, and introduced complementary feeding at relatively late stages. However, high child mortality rates resulted in high birth rates. In childhood, boys tended to die more often than girls. The situation changed after the age of 15. At the age of 15-45, mortality rates among Muslim women turned higher than those among men. Still, after the age of 45, male mortality increased again. Characteristic features of mortality among Muslims were as follows: a relatively low level of infant mortality (compared to that of Orthodox Christians), a high level of child mortality, increased mortality among fertile-aged women which sometimes proved several times as large as that among men of the same age, and others. Conclusions. The research materials demonstrate that mortality rates of Muslim population of the Orenburg and Ufa Governorates in the mid-19th – early 20th centuries were consistently lower than those of the entire population of the region, including Orthodox Christians. It is concluded that the demographic transition, i.e. the transition from a large to small family, among the Muslim peoples of the region had not yet begun then.
Keywords
