Late foetal and infant mortality in Australia, 1935-66

Abstract

This thesis delineates the problem of reproductive wastage in Australia. In its major objectives it is a pioneering endeavour, in this country, to study the influence of various demographic variables in the interstate variation in late foetal and infant mortality. The variables selected are legitimacy, place of residence, age of mother and parity. The great bulk of the data employed in this investigation is derived from the annual bulletin, Demography - the official publication of vital statistics in Australia - the Year Books of the Commonwealth of Australia and the annual Statistical Registers or Year Books of the individual states. Much of the fact-finding analysis is, however, marred by the inadequacy, and various other shortcomings, of basic data. This phenomenon is probably not unusual in pioneering studies. Show more