United Kingdom: 24% fewer babies in 1918 (World War I) than before the war; about the same in countries without war
Births relative to the 1911–1913 average: 76% in 1918, 90% five years after the war (1923). Countries not at war (Switzerland, Chile, Denmark and 5 more): the typical one, 99% and 104%.
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How many babies were born in the country during the war compared with the three years before it, and how births moved in the same years in countries without war. It is a comparison, not proof that the war alone did it.
Two lines: births in the country and the median of the comparison countries; 100 is the average of the three pre-war years. The red band marks the war years; the dot, the year with the fewest births.
- United Kingdom: births, index 100 = average of 1911–1913
1918: 76% · 1923: 90%
- Comparison countries: median 100 = average of 1911–1913
1918: 99% · 1923: 104%
Births: Human Mortality Database; war dates: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Comparison: countries not at war in those years.
Country territories in historical series may have changed.
A question for this picture
How many years after a war do births return to their former level, if they do?