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NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. MORAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 147
Sweden 1751/1895:
1751 75 ..................... 11-7
1776 00..................... 17-6
1801/25 ..................... 28-8
1826/50..................... 32 S
185175 ..................... 87-4
1876 95 ..................... 371
1886 95 ..................... 36-9
European countries 1871180:
Netherlands................ 17’8
Switzerland................ 181
England.................... 26 2
France....................... 30 9
Belgium..................... 310
Spain»....................... 32 8
Norway..................... 33 8
Scotland.................... 37 8
Sweden...................... 39 4
Italy»....................... 42 8
Denmark.................... 452
German Empire.......... 51’6
Western Austria......... 66-2
Western Europe.......... 40’2
The first column of this table shows that the most marked deterioration
took place in our country during the period 1776/1825, i. e. during the very
time that was also characterized by the greatest increase in the misuse of spirits.
But the table also shows that, during the last twenty years, this deterioration
has cfased — a circumstance we here take the liberty of especially emphasizing.
In comparison with other countries, we find that the figures for Sweden are
somewhat lower than the average for Western Europe, and considerably lower
than those for Denmark, the German Empire, Austria, and perhaps those for
Italy too. But on the contrary, we are certainly far from the favourable
condition presented, for example, by the Netherlands.
The principal reason of the comparatively large number of illegitimate births
in Sweden is, naturally, the decrease before mentioned in the frequency of
marriage, which has resulted in the percentage of married people now being lower
than in most European countries.
As to the frequency of illegitimate births in different parts of Sweden, that
will be seen from the map on p. 148. The state of things in this respect has
of låte years undergone a considerable change; in times of old, the condition of
Norrland, for instance, was very much more favourable than now. In Norrland
and Svealand (with the exception of Södermanland) and also in the lftns of
Kalmar and Blekinge, the frequency of illegitimate births is greater in the country
than in the towns.
Of the other data which serve to illustrate the moral condition
of Sweden, we may here accentuate the frequency of divorce, the
extent of prostitution, the frequency of venereal diseases and cases of
stillborn children, the difference in the death-rates between married
and unmarried persons, and, finally, the suicides.
The yearly total of divorces, per million of the population, for the decades
1831/40 to 1881/90 and the period 1891/95, in the order given, has amounted
to: 35* i, 32*1, 33-o, 31*9, 43’9, 50’a, and 61-s. The latest periods thus show a
pretty great deterioration, but still this does not prevent Sweden’s position in
this respect from being a more favourable one than that of most of the other
countries in Europe.
Regulated prostitution is found only in the cities of Stockholm and
Gothenburg. At the close of the year 1865, the number of prostitutes in Stockholm was
230 per hundred thousand inh., whereas, in 1899, it was only 162. In
Gothenburg, the corresponding figures for the years 1887 and 1900, were 102 and 72
respectively.
The frequency of venereal diseases, according to the investigations of J.
Kjellberg and others (at least, as far as can be judged from the number of
cases treated in the public hospitals), seems to be on the decline; this holds
good not least in respect to syphilis. During the years 1861/65, there were
annually admitted to the civil lock-hospitals 118 cases per hundred thousand inh.;
in the years 1891/95, on the contrary, only 91 per hundred thousand inh. During
1 Years 1861/70. — * Illegitimate children and foundlings.
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