A study of the socio-economic context and impact of influenza pandemic of 1918–19 on Bihar

Bibliographic Data

ID8961569
AuthorsSudhanshu Kumar Jha (0009-0005-6415-6164, Central University of South Bihar, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume60
Issue1
Pages81-104
Publication date2023-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Indian Economic & Social History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-4646 • E-ISSN: 0973-0893
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00194646221148699
OpenAlexW4318243983
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

The influenza pandemic of 1918–19 wreaked havoc all over the world, and Bihar, where more than a million people died, was no exception. The pandemic became more lethal in Bihar relative to what we know of other states in eastern India. Why did rural mortality surpass urban mortality? How did the pandemic worsen the socio-economic crisis in the years that followed? This study examines the socio-economic context of the pandemic in Bihar at a micro-level and investigates how the pandemic became unbearable for the people due to a severe economic crisis that resulted from the war and failed monsoons, among other factors. It seeks to explain the manner in which factors such as agricultural failure, inflation, high population density and poor health infrastructure resulted in higher rural mortality. It also shows how the loss of the younger generation and forced migration during the pandemic resulted in a lower rate of birth in the years following the pandemic, resulting in a loss of the labour force and worsening of the agrarian crisis

Agrarian society · Agriculture · Context (archaeology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Influenza pandemic · Pandemic · Population · Socioeconomics · Sociology · COVID-19 epidemiological studies · COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts · Demography · Medicine · Viral Infections and Vectors

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