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

Mortalité des britanniques de religion juive au tournant du 20e siècle: une perspective comparative
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

Mortality Jews UK Ethnic minorities 

Résumé

Cet article analyse des données de mortalité de britanniques de religion juive. La mortalité de cette population était peu connue jusqu’ici, mais la récente mise à disposition de données permet un développement considérable dans le domaine de la démographie juive. Cette étude se base sur diverses comparaisons de calendriers de mortalité et s’inscrit dans le cadre plus large de la tradition de recherche autour de la mortalité des juifs dans le monde. Trois questions empiriques sont traitées dans cet article: (1) la mortalité des britanniques de religion juive est-elle comparable à celle de la population britannique en général, et à celle de différents sous-groupes de cette population? (2) comment la mortalité des britanniques de religion juive se classe-t-elle par rapport aux calendriers d’âge au décès observés dans les pays développés? (3) la mortalité des britanniques de religion juive est-elle comparable à la mortalité des Israéliens de religion juive? L’analyse se conclut avec une discussion des résultats au regard d’autres informations disponibles dans la littérature sur la mortalité des juifs. Plus spécifiquement, le concept de modèle de mortalité juive et sa pertinence dans le contexte de la démographie britannique juive sont discutés.

Mots-clés

Mortalité Juifs Royaume-Uni Minorités ethniques 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to Marlena Schmool (formerly of the Board of Deputies of British Jews) and Prof. Steven Haberman (City University, London) for sharing their materials and knowledge of the British Jewish community statistics, and to the Board of Deputies of British Jews for making their data available. Special thanks are extended to Dr. Andrew Hinde and Prof. Máire Ní Bhrolcháin who commented extensively on the earlier versions of this paper. The author wishes to thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments were instrumental for improving this paper. Financial support from the Overseas Research Student Award Scheme (funded by the United Kingdom higher education bodies); B’nai B’rith Scholarship, Leo Baeck (London) Lodge; and Kenneth Lindsay Scholarship Grant (Anglo-Israel Association) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.RAND Europe, Westbrook CentreCambridgeUK

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