Using data collected for 350 cities from around the world, the authors use a variety of analytical methods to provide a global picture of what was happening to infectious epidemic diseases at a critical period in urban evolution on the international stage. The diseases considered are diphtheria, enteric fever, measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. To place the results in a wider time context, other data are used to look both backwards and forwards for nearly a century on either side of the twenty-five-year time window. The book presents a number of results that may be interpreted in the context of debates on the causes of long-term mortality decline from these infectious diseases. It will be of interest to students of demography, history of medicine, and economic history as well as to researchers already active in these fields.

This book uses data collected in the American journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for some 350 cities from around the world to look at trends in global mortality at the turn of the twentieth century, a period that witnessed some of the most dramatic changes in city growth on an international scale. The diseases considered are diphtheria, enteric fever, measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis and whooping cough--as well as death from all causes. The data have never before been systematically analyzed and they give important insights into patterns of mortality from these diseases.