Sources and Databases on Mortality and Morbidity in Finland, 1750–1950
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52024/hlcs25577Keywords:
Mortality, Morbidity, Databases, FinlandAbstract
This paper examines both the use and untapped potential of historical sources on mortality and morbidity in Finland. From the late 1600s, Lutheran priests recorded individual deaths, while causes of death were added on the historical sources from the mid-1700s. The Tabulation office compiled annual aggregate statistics on deaths by age, sex and cause of death based on priests' reports from the mid-1700s until 1900s. These records constitute one of the world's earliest national statistics. After the introduction of mandatory medical death examinations in 1936, causes of death were classified using national codes and later the International Classification of Diseases. In addition to mortality, various sources describe morbidity and epidemics. Annual reports from physicians and hospitals include patient statistics, individual observations, and epidemic analyses. Additionally, forensic materials, such as autopsy reports, detail unnatural deaths. Most burial records before the mid-1900s have been transcribed into accessible databases such as HisKi and Katiha. However, the multilingual nature and evolving understanding and terminology in causes of death pose classification challenges. To address this issue, this study discusses on the first attempt to apply the Historical International Classification of Diseases (ICD10h) to Finnish- and Swedish-language records, facilitating comparisons of causes of death before the 1900s. Although Finnish mortality sources have been used to some extent in historical and population studies, they remain an underutilized resource for comparative research. This article aims to raise awareness of these rich sources, exploring their origins, structure, and content, advocating for their broader application in historical, demographic, and epidemiological studies.
Downloads
References
Bruckner, T. A., Helle, S., Bolund, E., & Lummaa, V. (2015). Culled males, infant mortality and reproductive success in a pre-industrial Finnish population. Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences, 282(1799), Article 20140835. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0835
Demografiska databasen (DDB), CEDAR, Umeå universitet. (n.d.). [Dataset]. https://www.umu.se/forskning/infrastruktur/demografiska-databasen/
Eilola, J. (2021). Taulustolaitoksen aineistot [Sources produced by the Swedish Tabell Office]. In P. Impola, P. Frigren, P. Karonen & A. Räihä (Eds.), Vanhojen käsialojen lukuopas (pp. 93–98). Gaudeamus.
Einonen, P. (2020). Johdanto [Introduction]. In P. Einonen & M. Voutilainen (Eds.), Suomen sodan jälkeen. 1800-luvun alun yhteiskuntahistoria (pp. 9–42). Vastapaino.
Forsius, A. (1999–2006). Kuolinsyyt 1749–1877 [Causes of death 1749–1877]. Historismi.net. https://historismi.net/tools4.html
Gustafsson, T. (2007). Läkaren, döden och brottet: Studier i den svenska rättsmedicinens etablering [The physician, death and the crime: Studies on the establishment of Swedish forensic medicine][Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Uppsala.
Hakosalo, H. (2023). The walled-in illness: The twentieth-century Finnish tuberculosis sanatorium as lived space. In J. Annola, H. Lindberg & P. Markkola (Eds.), Lived institutions as history of experience (pp. 213–238). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38956-6_9
Happonen, P. (2009). Kaksi todellisuutta? Kirkonkirjat ja henkikirjat Sortavalan kaupungin väestöllisen profiilin kuvaajina 1800-luvun alusta vuoteen 1940 [Two realities? The parish registers and the population registers in describing the Sortavala city population profile from the beginning of the 19th century until 1940] [Doctoral dissertation, University of Jyväskylä]. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-219-316-2
Hiltunen Maltesdotter, M., & Edvinsson, S. (2025). Agents of change. The evolution of cause of death reporting in Sweden (1749–1950). Historical Life Course Studies, 15, 65–74. https://doi.org/10.51964/hlcs23129
Kannisto, V., Nieminen, M., & Turpeinen, O. (1999). Finnish life tables since 1751. Demographic Research, 1, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.1999.1.1
Ketola, T., Briga, M., Honkola, T., & Lummaa, V. (2021). Town population size and structuring into villages and households drive infectious disease risks in pre-healthcare Finland. Proceedings of the Royal Society. B: Biological Sciences, 288(1949), Article 20210356. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0356
Kivivuori, J. & Lehti, M. (2011). Homicide in Finland and Sweden. Crime and Justice, 40(1), 109–198. https://doi.org/10.1086/658889
Kontturi, S.-M. (2021). Lääkärikunnan synty: Suomen lääkärit n. 1750–1850 [The birth of the physician profession: Physicians in Finland c. 1750–1850] [Doctoral dissertation, University of Jyväskylä]. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-8603-2
Kortesoja, H. J. (2014). Miten HisKi syntyi [How HisKi was born]. Genos, 85(3), 180–183.
Koskivirta, A. (2001). Sisäinen vihollinen. Henkirikos ja kontrolli Pohjois-Savossa ja Karjalassa Ruotsin vallan ajan viimeisinä vuosikymmeninä [The enemy within. Homicide and control in Eastern Finland during the last decades of Swedish rule] [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Helsinki. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/19509
Koskivirta, A. (2014). Kuolemansyyn selvittäminen. Lainsäädäntö, vastuuviranomaiset ja asiakirja-aineistot Suomessa 1600-luvulta nykyaikaan [Determining the cause of death: Legislation, responsible authorities, and records in Finland from the 1600s to the present]. Genos, 85(4), 194–209.
Koskivirta, A. (2016). Lethal chastisement of children in pre-industrial Finland (c. 1700–1860): Reasons, practices and control. In M. Husso, T. Virkki, M. Notko, H. Hirvonen & J. Eilola (Eds.), Interpersonal violence: Differences and connections (pp. 46–66). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315628509
Kovero, M. (1948). Taulustolaitoksen perustaminen [The establishment of the Tabell Office]. In Taulustolaitos. 1749–1948 (pp. 3–7). Tilastollinen päätoimisto. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023013125103
Kylli, R. (2025). Saamelaisten ja kirkon suhde Suomessa. Erillisselvitys saamelaisten totuus- ja sovintokomissiolle [Relations between the Sámi and the Church in Finland: Special report for the Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission]. Valtioneuvosto. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-383-813-0
Lahdenperä, M., Salonen, M., Hiraoka, T., Seltmann, M. W., Saramäki, J., & Lummaa, V. (2025). Close and more distant relatives are associated with child mortality risk in historical Finland. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 7, e5, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2024.47
Lehti, M., & Sirén, R. (2018). The impact of alcohol consumption on homicide: A time-series analysis of three Nordic countries. European Journal of Criminology, 17(3), 352–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370818802524
Luef, E. (2013). Low morals at a high latitude? Suicide in nineteenth-century Scandinavia. Journal of Social History, 46(3), 668–683. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsh/shs129
Luostarinen, S., Harmo Björklöf, K., & Metsä-Simola, N. (n.d.). Finnish causes of deaths from 1750 to 1900 in the international ICD-10h classification scheme — User manual in Finnish [Unpublished].
Luther, G. (1993). Suomen tilastotoimen historia vuoteen 1970 [History of Official Statistics in Finland until 1970]. Tilastokeskus.
Luukkonen, I. (2019). Oikeuslääketieteellinen kuolemansyyn selvittäminen suomalaisella maaseudulla 1800- ja 1900-luvun vaihteessa [Forensic death examination in Finnish countryside from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century]. Thanatos, 8(2), 68–116.
Maaniitty, E. (2021). Befolknings- och folkhälsofrågornas framväxt och läkarnas förändrade yrkesbild i Sverige på 1700-talet [The onset of population and public health questions and the changing professional identity of physicians in Sweden in the 1700s]. Historisk tidskrift för Finland, 105(2020/4), 365–391. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/338839
Nieminen, M. (1999). Väestötilastoja 250 vuotta. Katsaus väestötilaston historiaan vuosina 1749–1999 [250 Years of population statistics: An overview of the history of population statistics, 1749–1999]. Tummavuoren Kirjapaino. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023013112911
Nitsch, A., Lummaa, V., Ketola, T., Honkola, T., Vesakoski, O., & Briga, M. (2025). The spatial distribution of pertussis, but not measles or smallpox, in pre-industrial Finland matches dialects. IScience, 28(6), Article 112530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112530
Pasanen, T.-M. (2024). Bayesian spatio-temporal modeling of areal data [Doctoral dissertation, University of Jyväskylä]. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-86-0446-4
Peltola, J., & Saaritsa, S. (2019). Later, smaller, better? Water infrastructure and infant mortality in Finnish cities and towns, 1870–1938. The History of the Family, 24(2), 277–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2019.1598462
Pesonen, N. (1980). Terveyden puolesta, sairautta vastaan. Terveyden- ja sairaanhoito Suomessa 1800- ja 1900-luvulla [For health, against disease: Health and medical care in Finland in the 1800s and 1900s]. WSOY.
Pietikäinen, P. (2013). Hulluuden historia [History of madness]. Gaudeamus.
Piilahti, K.-M. (2017). Suomen Sukututkimusseura 1900-luvulla [The Genealogical Society of Finland in the 1900s]. Genos, 88(2), 66–91.
Piilahti, K.-M. (2018). Eräs tapa rakentaa yhteiskuntaa. Sukututkimuksen vaiheita Suomessa 1900-luvulla [One way of building a society: The development of genealogical research in Finland in the 1900s]. Genos, 89(2) 66–95.
Pitkänen K. (1977). The reliability of the registration of births and deaths in Finland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Some examples. The Scandinavian Economic History Review, 25(2), 138–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/03585522.1977.10407878
Pitkänen, K. (1981). Väestötilastot [Population statistics]. In M. Hietala & K. Myllys (Eds.), Tutkijan tilastolliset tiedonlähteet (pp. 103–131). Gaudeamus.
Pitkänen, K. (1988). Väestöntutkimus ja yhteiskunta: Suomalaisen väestöntutkimuksen historia 1700-luvulta noin vuoteen 1950 [Population research and society: A history of Finnish population research from the 1700s to around 1950]. Suomen väestötieteen yhdistys.
Rautelin, M. (2009). En förutbestämd sanning: Barnamord och delaktighet i 1700-talets Finland belysta genom kön, kropp och social kontroll [A predetermined truth. Infanticide and accomplice through gender, body and social control in Finland in the 1700s] [Doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki]. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/19447
Reid, A., Garrett, E., Hiltunen Maltesdotter, M., & Janssens, A. (2024a). Historic cause of death coding and classification scheme for individual-level causes of death - Codes [Data set]. Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.109961
Reid, A., Garrett, E., Hiltunen Maltesdotter, M., & Murkens, M. (2024b). Historic cause of death coding and classification scheme for individual-level causes of death - Manual [Method]. Version 1. 1–37. Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.109960
Saaritsa, S., Simanainen, E., & Ristola, M. (2023). Nurses, doctors, and mortality: The effectiveness of early health professionals in rural Finland, 1880–1938. European Review of Economic History, 28(1), 91–119. https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/head011
Saarti, J., Vilkuna, K. H. J., Ropponen, J., & Soivanen, S. (2019). Karjala-tietokanta. Digitoitua demografista dataa vanhoista ja monimuotoisista genealogisista dokumenteista [The Karjala database: Digitized demographic data derived from old and diverse genealogical records]. Genos, 90(4), 216–232.
Salmela, A. (2017). Kuolemantekoja. Naisten itsemurhat 1800-luvun jälkipuolen tuomioistuinprosesseissa [Acts of death: Women's suicides in court proceedings in the second half of the 1800s] [Doctoral dissertation, University of Turku]. Turun yliopisto.
Salmela, A. (2018). Fleshy stories. New materialism and female suicides in late nineteenth-century Finland. International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity, 6(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.18352/hcm.545
Sköld, P. (2004). The birth of population statistics in Sweden. The History of the Family, 9(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hisfam.2001.10.001
Smedby, B. & Schiøler, G. (2006). Health classifications in the Nordic countries. Historic development in a national and international perspective. Nordisk Medicinalstatistisk Komité. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:970544/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Strömmer, M. (1948). Maamme väestötilaston uudistamisen vaiheita [Stages in the reform of our country's population statistics]. In Taulustolaitos. 1749–1948 (pp. 8–14). Tilastollinen päätoimisto. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023013125103
Tala, Y. (2008). Kirkon vai valtion kirjat? Uskontokuntasidonnaisuuden ongelma Suomen väestökirjanpidossa 1839–1904 [Church or state records? The problem of religious affiliation in Finland's population registration system, 1839–1904] [Doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki]. Tilastokeskus. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/21590
Tiitta, A. (2009). Collegium medicum. Lääkintöhallitus 1878–1991 [Collegium medicum. The Medical Board 1878–1991]. Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos.
Tilasto-opas [Statistical guide]. (1982). Tilastokeskus. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023013124967
Turpeinen, O. (2012). Kuppa: Kuninkaan ja kerjäläisen vitsaus [Syphilis: The scourge of a king and beggar]. Amanita.
Ukonaho, S. (2024). Mandates and incentives: Implementing Finland's first vaccination campaign against smallpox [Doctoral dissertation, University of Turku]. https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/177528
Voutilainen, M. (2016). Poverty, inequality and the Finnish 1860s famine [Doctoral dissertation, University of Jyväskylä]. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-6627-0
Vuorela, M. (2021). Autonomian ajan rikos ja rangaistus oikeustilaston valossa. Tutkimus rikollisuuden ja rangaistuskäytännön kehityksestä Suomessa ja muissa Pohjoismaissa vuosina 1809–1917 [Crime and punishment according to justice statistics during the Finnish autonomy. The development of crime and sentencing practices in Finland and the other Nordic countries in 1809–1917] [Doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki]. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/324465
Vuorinen, H. S. (2002). Tautinen historia [A diseased history]. Vastapaino.
Vuorinen, H. S. (2006). Tautinen Suomi 1857–1865 [Diseased Finland, 1857–1865]. Gummerus.
Wrigley, E. A., & Schofield, R. S. (1981). The population history of England 1541–1871: A reconstruction. Cambridge University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Sara Luostarinen, Iida Lahtinen, Saara-Maija Kontturi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
