Mortality of British Jews at the Turn of the 20th Century in a Comparative Perspective

Laura Staetsky (1)

1 RAND Europe [Cambridge]

This paper presents an analysis of the mortality data of British Jews. Not much was known about mortality of British Jews until recently. Recent availability of mortality data of British Jews represents a remarkable development in Jewish demography. The study reported in this paper employs multiple comparisons of mortality schedules and places the discussion of findings within the larger analytical framework offered by the existing tradition of research into Jewish mortality across the world. This paper addresses three principle empirical questions: (1) how does the mortality of British Jews compare to the mortality of the total British population and of different subgroups within this population?; (2) how does the mortality of British Jews compare to the range of mortality schedules of developed countries?; and (3) how does the mortality of British Jews compare to those observed among Israeli Jews?. The analysis is concluded with a discussion of the results in the light of other available evidence from the literature on Jewish mortality. Specifically, the concept of Jewish pattern of mortality and its appropriateness within the context of British Jewish demography are discussed.

Mots clés: Mortality; Jews; UK; Ethnic minorities; Mortalité; Juifs; Royaume-Uni; Minorités ethniques

Laura Staetsky. Mortality of British Jews at the Turn of the 20th Century in a Comparative Perspective. European Journal of Population / Revue européenne de Démographie, 2011, 27 (3), pp.361-385. ⟨10.1007/s10680-011-9239-9⟩. ⟨hal-00664101⟩