Princeton European Fertility Project:
Definitions of Infant Mortality Rate

Infant mortality rates for the countries listed here can be found in columns 35-39 of the data records in the Master File. The standard definition of infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths (under one year of age) in a given period divided by the total births in the same period. The following list gives the period used for each country. Those countries not in the list do not have infant mortality rate available. The two-digit number preceding the country name is the country identifier found in columns 1-2 of the master file.

• 03 Belgium - year specified in columns 9-12. See Fertility in Belgium (Lesthaegue) for detailed information.
• 04 Denmark - linear average of the IMR in the five years preceding the year specified in columns 9-12, and the IMR in the five years including the year in cols. 9-12 and the four following years. In some provinces or regions, in some years, no IMR data are available. In other cases data are not available for urban/rural breakdowns. The following are exceptions to the method normally used:
  • 1852 - data for 1850-54 were used.
  • 1880 - for the regions Sydoestlige Jylland, Nordjylland and Syvestlige Jylland (Series 1), and for Bornholm Amt (Series 0), 1880-1884 data were used.
  • 1921 - for the regions Soenderjylland (Series 1), and Hederslev Amt, Aabernraa-Soenderberg Amt, and Toender Amte (Series 0), 1921-25 data were used.
• 05 England and Wales (Series 0) - Year given in cols. 9-12.
• 07 France - Estimated standard definitions. See The Female Population of France in the Nineteenth Century (Van de Walle) for details.
• 08 Germany, (Series 0) - See details in The Decline of Fertility in Germany, 1871-1939 (Knodel).
• 20 Switzerland - year given in cols. 9-12.