Development of regional variety of the biological standard of living in the Netherlands, 1812–1913

Abstract

This study focuses on regional patterns in stature in Dutch society during the 19th and early 20th century (1813-1913). To analyze regional patterns and transitions the HSN Database Giants is used. Results confirm that in the first period (1830-1860) differences in the biological standard of living were substantial. The less market-oriented inland provinces had the highest level of standard of living. This is line with the Komlos-thesis. The modernization of the Dutch economy in the second half of the 19thcentury was accompanied by a substantial increase in average height and a reversal of the spatial pattern as modernization was more important in the market oriented regions. Nevertheless, regional differences remained substantial and there was no pattern of convergence. Conscripts from the market-oriented coastal provinces took over the lead from the inland provinces. I tested for an urban premium for the last period (1890-1913). This was confirmed, although it did not manifest itself in cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam but rather in medium-sizes and small cities.

Re-examining the social gradient in health: A study of Dutch men, 1850–1984

“…It seems plausible that farmers and others from rural areas would have been taller than peers from higher socio-economic backgrounds. This was indeed the case for the early nineteenth century Netherlands ( Tassenaar, 2019 ). However, from the mid-nineteenth century onward, the Netherlands underwent a shift in its food system, with improvements in production, conservation and transportation ( Tassenaar, 2019 ).…”

“…This was indeed the case for the early nineteenth century Netherlands ( Tassenaar, 2019 ). However, from the mid-nineteenth century onward, the Netherlands underwent a shift in its food system, with improvements in production, conservation and transportation ( Tassenaar, 2019 ). The availability and quality of food therefore became more evenly and reliably distributed throughout the Netherlands.…”

“…The availability and quality of food therefore became more evenly and reliably distributed throughout the Netherlands. Perhaps as a result, heights were increasingly similar across urban and rural Dutch provinces ( Tassenaar, 2019 ). Access to food was increasingly related to the ability to pay for it, rather than to proximity to it ( Tassenaar, 2019 ).…”

Determinants of Nutritional Differences in Mediterranean Rural Spain, 1840–1965 Birth Cohorts: A Comparison between Irrigated and Dry Farming Agriculture

“…In continental Europe, the anthropometric findings show a more diverse rural panorama. For example, until well into the nineteenth century, the less market-oriented inland Dutch rural regions enjoyed higher biological standards of living, but at the beginning of the twentieth century the urban penalty had disappeared and was replaced by the urban premium at least for the small and medium sized cities (Tassenaar 2019). There were situations of nutritional stress in many parts of rural Europe at least until the mid-nineteenth century.…”

Height and health in late eighteenth-century England

“…The gradients reported are generally in the order of 1–5 cm between poor and wealthy/well-fed groups, and they appear to have attenuated as populations grew taller ( Figure 2 ).

Figure 2 Social inequalities in height over time for cohorts born before the twentieth century, various populations Sources: Komlos 1987 , 1990 , 1994 ; Floud et al 1990 ; Twarog 1997 ; Baten & Murray 2000 ; A’Hearn 2003 ; Alter et al 2004a ; Cranfield and Inwood 2007 ; Heyberger 2007 ; Martínez-Carrión and Moreno-Lázaro 2007 ; Cinnirella 2008 ; Baten et al 2009 ; Lantzsch and Schuster 2009 ; Schoch et al 2012 ; Manfredini et al 2013 ; Sunder 2013 ; Ayuda and Puche-Gil 2014 ; Öberg 2014 ; López-Alonso and Vélez-Grajales 2015 ; Bailey et al 2016 ; Beekink and Kok 2017 ; Mazzoni et al 2017 ; Koepke et al 2018 ; Llorca-Jaña et al 2018 ; Quanjer and Kok 2019 ; Tassenaar 2019 . See Table A1, supplementary material, for full list of studies and the social class groups compared in each.

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