Thursday, July 18, 2013

Child Mortality by Age


As I have already discovered, child mortality was high in the Episcopal Cemetery. Out of 398 people buried in the cemetery, 21% were aged 10 and younger and 26% were aged 20 and younger. Child mortality was highest in the cemetery during the 1850s, when children accounted for 33.8% of burials, but was also high in the 1830s (33.33%) and 1860s (33.33%).

At what age were children most likely to die? It's not surprising that the answer is "infancy." The chart above represents 104 burials of children and adolescents aged 20 or younger. Twenty-six, or 25%, of these burials were of infants under the age of one year. Eighteen burials, or 17%, were of children between one and two years old. After the age of two, mortality declines dramatically. Of all children buried in the cemetery who were younger than 10 years old, 65% were two years old or younger.

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