Height, Wealth, and Longevity in 19th century East Belgium

Epidemiologists and demographers have long suspected that childhood experiences affect mortality at later ages, but it has been very difficult to separate the persistent effects of early life conditions from other determinants of health. Individuals raised in poor families are more likely to be economically deprived in adulthood, and poor health can cause lower socio-economic achievement. We use life histories from a 19th century community to identify the long-term effects of deprivation in childhood. Heights derived from military conscription examinations provide a summary measure of childhood experiences of nutrition and disease. We find a complex pattern of relationships between wealth, height, marriage, and mortality across the life course. Parental wealth was related to height, which in turn affected the likelihood that a man would marry. Height and wealth in adulthood were strongly related to survival in old age in earlier cohorts, but this relationship weakened after 1850.