Small area variations in infant mortality in England and Wales in the inter-war period and their link with socio-economic factors

This paper considers the changing spatial pattern of infant mortality during the inter-war years (1921–1936) at Local Government District level in England and Wales. As well as vital statistics data for these areas, also available are 1921 and 1931 Census data on unemployment, housing, occupational structure and population density, with additional data on unemployment from 1927 to 1936 for the 62 counties in which Districts are located. The statistical analysis relating changing District mortality to these characteristics derives mortality gradients across categorical forms of the social indicators, and assesses impacts of model re-specification to allow for spatio-temporal correlation. Time varying gradients across unemployment, housing and policy status are then investigated with a view to assessing whether there was a widening in mortality inequalities in the regionalized economic depression of the 1930s.