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This study explores the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of one-person households (OPHs) in Sweden during the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. While today, 25% of the adult population lives in an OPH – one of the highest rates globally – only 6% of the population lived alone in 1930. Using the 1930 census, we examine the drivers of OPH living through regression analysis of age, gender, marital status, education, income, occupation, and geographical setting. Our analysis shows that socioeconomic status, in terms of education and income, was important for the probability of living alone for both genders, with higher probabilities among the highly educated. However, income affected men and women differently. For women, income had a strong positive effect, while the opposite was true for men, as long as differences in marital status were not accounted for. The results also show substantial occupational effects that operated independently of education and income. White-collar middle-class professionals engaged in non-manual intellectual work, particularly female teachers, formed the avant-garde in single living. The social status in these groups derived primarily from cultural rather than economic capital, which was at least as important as economic resources for the propensity to live alone during this period. By identifying the early adopters of what would become a widespread living arrangement, this study contributes to our understanding of how demographic innovation spreads through society during periods of socioeconomic transformation. 

Previous studies indicate that the use of disability benefits is associated with reduced chances of having children. The current study aimed to identify the bidirectional nature of this association which has been overlooked in previous research. The longitudinal data used in this study were obtained from the Swedish national registers. It consists of 440,200 individuals born from 1968 to 1970 with a follow-up period extending up to 2010. Descriptive analysis, heat map visualization, and multinomial logistic regression were performed. The results show a complex and dynamic association between disability and parenthood. Starting on disability benefits at the age of 20–25 years was associated with a reduced chance of having children during the follow-up duration (≤42 years). Interestingly, another pattern was also revealed, and individuals who had their first child as teenagers (aged 13–19 years) were at higher odds of starting to receive disability benefits during their 30s and 40s compared to the rest of the study population. This is the first study to show evidence of a bidirectional nature of the association between age at starting to use disability benefits and the age of having a first child. Our findings demonstrate the potential of using heatmaps and multinomial regression on time-to-event data to examine bidirectional relationships between various factors investigated across several disciplines.

This study examines disparities in income levels and employment status between individuals who migrate from rural areas and their siblings who remained in rural settings in Sweden for cohorts born 1960–1984. Utilizing comprehensive Swedish register data, we track the economic outcomes at age 35 or rural residents who migrated between ages 15 and 25, comparing them to non-migrating siblings. Our analysis, employing binomial logit and log-linear models for employment odds and income levels, respectively, reveals that while rural out-migration generally leads to higher income, it does not significantly impact employment status. The study underscores the role of individual and family-specific factors—such as gender and education—and broader time- and place-dependent structures in mediating migration's effects. We find that income disparity between migrants and non-migrants has increased since the 1990s and that the differences increase with the urbanization level of the destination.

Climate conditions, such as ambient temperatures, play a crucial role in infants' vulnerability to infectious diseases. However, little is known about how climate conditions, such as temperatures and seasonality, affect infectious disease mortality among infants in high mortality settings. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between cause-specific infant mortality and ambient temperatures and seasonality. We applied a retrospective study design using parish register data from Sweden covering the 1868–1892 period in combination with daily temperature data. Mortality due to water- and foodborne diseases, airborne infectious diseases and other causes was modelled as a function of temperature exposure in the previous 14 days using distributed lagged non-linear models. We found that airborne infectious diseasemortality was not related to cold temperatures, but rather to seasonality. The summer peaks in mortality due to water- and foodborne infections were associated with high temperatures, and not with seasonality. The increased vulnerability of infants to infectious diseases at high temperatures is a significant future risk, given that global temperatures are projected to rise in the coming decades.

Partnership signifies a key transition for social recognition in society. This study identifies long-term trends of disability and partnership in Sweden evidenced by the chances to marry or cohabit during two centuries (1800s–2010s). We compare results from studies within one comprehensive disability project, making use of quantitative life-course analysis and population records. Our findings uncover a remarkably persistent trend from the 1800s until the 2010s. Disability impeded both men and women’s partnership chances significantly (by about 60%), with some variations across disability types, genders, and periods. That disabled people did not enjoy greater access to a partner relative to others while Sweden moved from a poor country to a wealthy welfare state, suggests that disability persistently affords fewer possibilities to participate in social life and society. Our study is exceptional by combining disability with partnership and comparing recent results with the past.

Climate variability, such as ambient temperature, is crucial for infants' vulnerability to infectious diseases. However, little is known about how climate variability affects infectious disease mortality among infants in high mortality settings. We investigate the association between ambient temperature, seasonality and cause-specific infant mortality. Parish register data from the Sundsvall region in Northern Sweden covering the period 1868-1892 were used in combination with daily temperature data from Härnösand. Mortality due to water- and food-born diseases, airborne infectious diseases, and other causes were modelled as a function of temperature exposure in the previous 14 days using time-series analysis. We found that airborne infectious disease mortality was not related to cold temperatures but rather to seasonality, and that the summer mortality peak due to water- and foodborne infections were associated with high temperatures and not with seasonality. 

Historical studies on the institutionalization of the mentally ill have primarily relied on data for institutionalized patients rather than the population at risk. Consequently, the underlying factors of institutionalization are unclear. Using Swedish longitudinal microdata from 1900–59 reporting mental disorders, we examine whether supply factors, such as distance to institutions and number of asylum beds, influenced the risk of institutionalization, in addition to demand factors such as access to family. Institutionalization risks were associated with the supply of beds and proximity to an asylum, but also dependent on families’ unmet demand for care of relatives. As the supply of mental care met this family-driven demand in the 1930s, the relative risk of institutionalization increased among those lacking family networks.

This study brings together a unique selection of results that reveal how disabilities shaped the marriage/cohabitation chances in Swedish populations from the 1800s until recent decades. Using longitudinal population registers and a life course approach, multivariate statistical analysis helps to estimate the impact of disability on partnership relative to other individual-level attributes in different temporal contexts of Swedish society. While there were some differences by type of disability and gender, the overall finding is that disabilities kept weakening people’s partnership chances to a similarly high extent (with about 60% or even more), as Sweden moved from being a poor country in the 1800s to a modern welfare state. We discuss the findings from social inequalities perspectives arguing that disabled people’s partnership chances not only represent how potential partners perceive disability; these chances also reflect general attitudes in society towards disability that work to compromise disabled people’s participation in social life and society. Our long-term results uncover a remarkable persistence in the relationship between disability and partnership in turn suggesting that social inequalities persist being associated with disability in spite of profound structural changes and extensive welfare measures in Sweden to create a more equal society for all.

BACKGROUND: Studies from across the world show that disability limits people’s health and social wellbeing in present-day populations. This disadvantage can lead to premature death, but there is dearth knowledge about the relationship between disability and mortality and changes over time.   

OBJECTIVES: Unique access to longitudinal micro data on comprehensive Swedish populations enabled us to examine how disability affects premature death in men and women from the 1800s until 2010. 

METHODS: Cox proportional regressions were used to estimate mortality hazards by disability status, gender and socio-economic indicators in three study populations from the 1800s, 1900s and 2000s. We followed all adults having disability from age 25 to compare their premature death risks (< age 43) relative to non-disabled groups.

RESULTS: Irrespective of gender and century studied, the adjusted hazard ratios show that adults with disabilities had a significantly higher premature death risk relative to adults without disabilities, and it increased over time. In the 1800s, disability about doubled this risk (HR: 2.31, CI: 1.65–3.22) and it tripled from 1900–1959 (HR 3.01, CI 2.60– 3.48). At the turn of the 21th century, the mortality risk was almost ten-folded (HR 9.90, CI 8.03–10.5). 

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first comprehensive estimates on how disability increased mortality in Swedish populations from the 1800s until the 2000s. Across three centuries, disability was associated with a profoundly higher relative death risk in adults aged 25–42. This risk grew when the general survival in Sweden improved and it was the highest in the 1990–2010 period. Fundamental societal changes and extensive welfare provisions promoting equality in gender, health and social wellbeing of all citizens have not come to include younger generations with disabilities. 

Background: Climate vulnerability of the unborn can contribute to adverse birth outcomes, in particular, but it is still not well under-stood. We investigated the association between ambient temperature and stillbirth risk among a historical population in northern Sweden (1880–1950).

Methods: We used digitized parish records and daily temperature data from the study region covering coastal and inland communi-ties some 600 km north of Stockholm, Sweden. The data included 141,880 births, and 3,217 stillbirths, corresponding to a stillbirth rate of 22.7 (1880–1950). The association between lagged temperature (0–7 days before birth) and stillbirths was estimated using a time-stratified case-crossover design. Incidence risk ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals were computed, and stratified by season and sex.

Results: We observed that the stillbirth risk increased both at low and high temperatures during the extended summer season (April to September), at −10°C, and the IRR was 2.3 (CI 1.28, 4.00) compared to the minimum mortality temperature of +15°C. No clear effect of temperature during the extended winter season (October to March) was found. Climate vulnerability was greater among the male fetus compared to the female counterparts.

Conclusion: In this subarctic setting before and during industrialization, both heat and cold during the warmer season increased the stillbirth risk. Urbanization and socio-economic development might have contributed to an uneven decline in climate vulnerability of the unborn.