La mortalidad en Veracruz, 1800-1830

The objective of this article is to present mortality characteristics of Veracruz based on historical sources, such as sacramental burial records from 1800 to 1830 and the 1831 statistics from the Veracruz governor’s report called Estadística. The limitations of historical information sources lead us to propose a methodological approach to the usefulness of demographic analysis tools with limited historical data, which will advance our understanding of the historical demography of the State of Veracruz. Using the aggregative method of historical demography, the burial records are summarized and peaks in mortality are identified, and the crude mortality rate is obtained using the population estimated by the governor’s Estadística in the city of Xalapa and the department of Acayucan. The methodology of indirect standardization of mortality rate is proposed for two administrative levels of population concentration in the state: the port of Veracruz and the Canton of Jalacingo. The results allow us to identify the causes of death, total mortality rates, and their variation among the different population centers. The conclusion suggests that, although deaths could be underreported, the results constitute an approximation of the demographic situation of that period, also demonstrating the difference of the mortality rates between the different geographical spaces in contexts of epidemic outbreaks.