Demography and social economy, 2015, 1(23):137-149
https://doi.org/10.15407/dse2015.01.137

N.M. Levchuk
Doctor of Economics, Senior Researcher Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Social differentiation in mortality during the 1933 holodomor: the case of Lebedyn
Section: DEMOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS
Language: Ukrainian
Abstract: This study analyzes social differences in mortality and mortality by causes of death during the 1933 Famine. We have created the death certificate data base containing 641 death records from the city of Lebedyn of Sumy region. Differences by sex and age and seasonal variation in mortality are investigated. The analysis of cause-specific mortality has revealed that the proportion of famine-related deaths was 73.7% of all deaths registered in Lebedyn during the July-December period of 1933. Significant differences in cause-of-death structure between social groups are found and these results suggest that there was some differentiation in mortality during the Famine according to social and occupational status. The highest proportion of deaths from nutritional and metabolic diseases directly caused by starvation occurred among unskilled manual workers while the lowest proportion of the famine-attributable deaths was found for white-collar workers.
Key words: mortality, Holodomor, death certificate, cause-of-death structure, social differentiation in mortality.
References:
1. Kulchytskyi, S. (2013). Chervonyi vyklyk. Istoriya komunizmu v Ukraini vid yoho narodgennia do zagybeli [The red challenge. History of communism in Ukraine: from its start to the fall]. Kyiv: Tempora [in Ukrainian].
2. Davies, R. W., Wheatcroft. S. (2009). The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933. London: Palgrave Macmillan [in English].
3. Graziosi, A. (2009). Stalinism, Collectivization and the Great Famine. Cambridge, MA: The Ukrainian Studies Fund [in English].
4. Conquest, R. (1986). The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror Famine. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press [in English].
5. Maksudov, S. (1991). Demographichni vtraty naselennia Ukrainy v 1930-1938 rokakh [Demographic losses of Ukraine in 1930-1938]. Ukrainiskyi Istorychnyi Zhurnal - Ukrainian Historical Journal, 1, 121-127 [in Ukrainian].
6. Pyrozhkov, S (1992). Trudovyi potentsial v demohrafichnomu vymiri [Labour potential in the demographic dimension]. Kyiv: Naukova dumka [in Ukrainian].
7. Vallin, J., Mesle, F., Adamets, S., Pyrozhkov, S. (2002). A new estimate of Ukrainian population losses during the crises of the 1930s and 1940s. Population Studies, 56 (3), 249–264 [in English]. https://doi.org/10.1080/00324720215934
8. Rudnytskyi, O., Levchuk, N., Wolowyna, O., Shevchuk, P. and A. Kovbasuik (2015). Demography of a man-made human catastrophe: the case of massive famine in Ukraine 1932-1933. Canadian Studies in Population. 42, no. 1-2, 53-80 [in English]. https://doi.org/10.25336/P6FC7G
9. Natsionalna knyha pamiati zhertv Holodomoru 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukraini. Sumska oblast [National memory book of the 1932-1933 Famine victims in Ukraine. Sumy region]. (2008). Sumy, Sobor [in Ukrainian].
10. Ivanushchenko, H. Diagnoses of death during the 1932-33 Holodomor as a source for creating a victim database. Retrieved from: http://history.sumynews.com/xx/1929-1938-rosijska-radyanizatsiya-i-ukrajinska-vidpovid/item/178-diagnozi-pro-smert-v-period-golodomoru-1932-1933-rokiv-yak-dzherelo-stvorennya-personalnikh-baz-danikh.html [in English].
11. State Archive of Sumy Oblast. Knygy reestratsii aktiv gromadianskoho stanu u m. Lebedyn [Book of the records of the Civil Registry Office, city of Lebedyn]. Fond Р-7720, opys 22, sprava 66, ark. 1-177; sprava 67, ark. 1-144; sprava 68, ark. 1-144 [in Ukrainian].
12. Boriak H. (2009). Sources for the study of the Great Famine in Ukraine. The Holodomor series. Cambridge, Ukrainian Studies Fund [in English].
13. Pidsumky obliku miskoi ludnosti URSR 1931 roku [1931 urban count]. (1933). Kharkiv, Narodne hospodarstvo ta oblik [in Ukrainian].
14. Natsionalna knyha pamiati zhertv Holodomoru 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukraini. Kharkivska oblast [National memory book of the 1932-1933 Famine victims in Ukraine. Kharkiv region]. (2008). Kharkiv, Folio [in Ukrainian].