De folkförödande städerna. Dödlighetskriser under 1700-talet i svenska städer och landsbygd

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how a towns respective rural population in Sweden were influenced by bad harvests and epidemics during the 18 th century. The investigation is based on the demographic conditions during the period 1720 – 1800 in the city of Borås and three nearby rural parishes. The results suggest that the urban population was less affected by bad harvests than the rural areas and that the nativity rose after crop failure while it decreased in rural areas. Borås was mor often affected by epidemics than the rural areas. Smallpox recurred in a cyclical course about every fifh year. Dysentery was one of the moust serious epidemic illnesses during the 18th century in Sweden but there was only one major outbreak in the investigated areas when the disease spread from Borås to the surrounding rural areas. The infant mortality rate was higher in Borås and other Swedish medium-sized cities och this can explain that the mortality rate was higher than in the rural areas. The birth deficit was after 1750 large i Borås as well as in other medium-sized swedish cities. The cities were dependant om migration from the rural areas witch had large birth surplus. There seems to be basis for the theory about ”the urban graveyard”. The decreasing mortality rate at the end of the 18th century resulted in an increasing swedish population. This was the goal of the authorities and the measures by society probably contributed to this.