The Wider Background of the Second Transition in Europe

• Published in: Modern Environments and Human Health pp. 55 - 80
• Main Author: Koepke, Nikola
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford John Wiley & Sons, Inc 14.05.2014
• Subjects: Europe; nutritional status; second epidemiologic transition; skeletal material; urbanization; well‐being
• ISBN: 1118504208; 9781118504208
• DOI: 10.1002/9781118504338.ch4

This chapter focuses on the potential causes and consequences of the second epidemiologic transition. It presents evidence on the standard of living across Europe for the centuries preceding the second transition and tests whether conditions were indeed stagnant. The chapter assesses whether regional differences in the standard of living existed, which in turn might be responsible for regional and national‐level differences in the trajectory of the transition throughout the continent. The data on stature used here comes from archaeologically derived skeletons recovered from cemeteries throughout Europe. The findings suggest that well‐being, represented by net nutrition and therefore mean stature, did not stagnate prior to the second transition, but instead experienced substantial variation by region and over the centuries. The results also suggest that increased rates of urbanization throughout time and the declines in environmental quality that they represent have presented a major impediment to improvements in health over time.