Modern medical science, as we have seen, has done much to decrease the
death rate in civilized countries, and it promises to do even more.
Fifty years ago a death rate of fifty or sixty per thousand population
in urban centers was not unusual, but now a death rate of thirty to
forty in a thousand in the same communities is considered an intolerable
disgrace, and the time will shortly come, no doubt, when even a death
rate of twenty per thousand of the population will be considered
disgraceful to any community. As we have already seen, the normal death
rate of the most enlightened European and American communities tends to
establish itself around fifteen or sixteen.
Of course the sanitary and hygienic conditions which influence the death
rate are so numerous that we cannot enter into and discuss them. We can
only mention some of the more general social influences which are often
overlooked and are of particular interest to the sociologist.
(1) The effect of war upon the death rate, particularly of the
victorious, is not so great as many people suppose.
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