Inequality in Child Mortality Persists Between Generations in the Netherlands, 1835–1919

Abstract In historical the Netherlands, child mortality was distributed unequally between families and this inequality persisted across generations. Using family reconstitution data for the province of Zeeland (LINKS) containing over 200,000 children born 1835–1914, I show that mortality was higher among children under age 5 whose parents lost siblings under age 5. Intergenerational persistence was strongest from mothers to their children and particularly for mothers who lost siblings as infants in relation to mortality among their own infants. This intergenerational persistence of child mortality existed independently from socioeconomic differences in infant and child mortality. Inequalities accumulated, as child mortality was highest for low socioeconomic status (SES) children whose parents originated from high-mortality, low-SES families. Intergenerational transmission in child mortality persisted even when child mortality had declined in the early twentieth century.