'…a universal outpouring of savagery, imbecility and race hatred… Civilization was about to murder itself.'
—Bruce Duffy on the First World War, in The World as I Found It (1987)
All-cause mortality at age 15-34 years in
Scotland: 1875-2006
Colours: The coloured curves represent Scottish males (blue) and females (red); for comparison,
the light grey curves represent males (generally the upper grey curve) and females (generally the lower) in England & Wales.
Comment: Excluding the years of the two world wars, there was no clear separation between male and female mortality rates at
age 15-34 years until 1951. Female mortality was a little higher than male mortality as recently as 1947-50, possibly in part because of a surge in pregnancies after
the second war. During the war years, the Scottish rates exclude military personnel (whether at home or abroad) whereas the England & Wales
rates include them.
Method: Mortality rates were downloaded from the Human Mortality Database (see www.mortality.org or
www.humanmortality.de)
on 4 December 2009. The plotted lines connect unsmoothed values.
Colours: The coloured curves represent Scottish males (blue) and females (red); for comparison, the light grey curves represent males (generally the upper grey curve) and females (generally the lower) in England & Wales.
Comment: Excluding the years of the two world wars, there was no clear separation between male and female mortality rates at age 15-34 years until 1951. Female mortality was a little higher than male mortality as recently as 1947-50, possibly in part because of a surge in pregnancies after the second war. During the war years, the Scottish rates exclude military personnel (whether at home or abroad) whereas the England & Wales rates include them.
Method: Mortality rates were downloaded from the Human Mortality Database (see www.mortality.org or www.humanmortality.de) on 4 December 2009. The plotted lines connect unsmoothed values.