Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century

In this paper we first set out to evaluate how much the fertility between Rostock as an urban settlement differed from the surrounding rural area of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in the 19th century. The available microdata allows for a more in-depth analysis compared to previous research based on aggregate...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Siegfried Gruber, Rembrandt Scholz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Instititute of Social History 2018-01-01
Series:Historical Life Course Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hlcs.nl/article/view/9326
_version_ 1798017259098079232
author Siegfried Gruber
Rembrandt Scholz
author_facet Siegfried Gruber
Rembrandt Scholz
author_sort Siegfried Gruber
collection DOAJ
description In this paper we first set out to evaluate how much the fertility between Rostock as an urban settlement differed from the surrounding rural area of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in the 19th century. The available microdata allows for a more in-depth analysis compared to previous research based on aggregate data. The censuses of 1819, 1867, and 1900 provide data for using the Own-Children-Method. We analyse the urban-rural difference, the influence of occupational groups in the city of Rostock and its rural surroundings, and finally the influence of migration on fertility in the city of Rostock. Immigration from rural areas and other cities was the main reason for the population increase of Rostock in the 19th century and this could have affected its fertility levels. Overall fertility was higher for rural areas than for urban ones, while marital fertility was more or less the same. Marital fertility was almost the same for all occupational groups, even for the agricultural sector. Migration had no visible effect on marital fertility, which is both interesting and unexpected. The most important factor for the level of overall fertility was the proportion of married people, which was an outcome of the possibilities offered by different economic sectors and environments.
first_indexed 2024-04-11T16:04:11Z
format Article
id doaj.art-d064ad36df5f49fc88f1621378e5fe95
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2352-6343
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-11T16:04:11Z
publishDate 2018-01-01
publisher International Instititute of Social History
record_format Article
series Historical Life Course Studies
spelling doaj.art-d064ad36df5f49fc88f1621378e5fe952022-12-22T04:14:52ZengInternational Instititute of Social HistoryHistorical Life Course Studies2352-63432018-01-016Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th CenturySiegfried GruberRembrandt ScholzIn this paper we first set out to evaluate how much the fertility between Rostock as an urban settlement differed from the surrounding rural area of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in the 19th century. The available microdata allows for a more in-depth analysis compared to previous research based on aggregate data. The censuses of 1819, 1867, and 1900 provide data for using the Own-Children-Method. We analyse the urban-rural difference, the influence of occupational groups in the city of Rostock and its rural surroundings, and finally the influence of migration on fertility in the city of Rostock. Immigration from rural areas and other cities was the main reason for the population increase of Rostock in the 19th century and this could have affected its fertility levels. Overall fertility was higher for rural areas than for urban ones, while marital fertility was more or less the same. Marital fertility was almost the same for all occupational groups, even for the agricultural sector. Migration had no visible effect on marital fertility, which is both interesting and unexpected. The most important factor for the level of overall fertility was the proportion of married people, which was an outcome of the possibilities offered by different economic sectors and environments.https://hlcs.nl/article/view/9326MigrationSocio-economic differentiationUrban-rural differencesFertility declineRostockMecklenburg-Schwerin (Northern Germany)
spellingShingle Siegfried Gruber
Rembrandt Scholz
Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century
Historical Life Course Studies
Migration
Socio-economic differentiation
Urban-rural differences
Fertility decline
Rostock
Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Northern Germany)
title Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century
title_full Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century
title_fullStr Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century
title_full_unstemmed Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century
title_short Fertility in Rostock and Rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 19th Century
title_sort fertility in rostock and rural mecklenburg schwerin in the 19th century
topic Migration
Socio-economic differentiation
Urban-rural differences
Fertility decline
Rostock
Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Northern Germany)
url https://hlcs.nl/article/view/9326
work_keys_str_mv AT siegfriedgruber fertilityinrostockandruralmecklenburgschwerininthe19thcentury
AT rembrandtscholz fertilityinrostockandruralmecklenburgschwerininthe19thcentury