Religion and Health: Catholicism and Regional Mortality Differences in Nineteenth-Century Netherlands

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Abstract
A recently published study covering the period 1950–84 had shown that a strong relationship existed between mortality rates and respectively the percentage of Roman Catholics, the level of income and the degree of urbanization. Multivariate analysis of regional mortality data for the periods 1850–59, 1885–94 and 1928–33 made clear that the relation between religion and mortality already existed in the period around 1880. After controlling for disturbing factors - fertility level and region – the correlation remained high. The ways in which religion could influence health and mortality levels are discussed and mechanisms are suggested which can explain why Roman Catholicism exerted a negative influence on health only after the 1880s

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