This chapter looks into Ghana's significant change which affected the whole of Africa: the continent's population had begun to increase dramatically by the middle of the twentieth century. The chapter shows the demographic historians' arguments over the reason for this, some pointing to rising birth rates and others to falling death rates. While available evidence suggests that in most regions women's fertility levels remained broadly the same over the first half of the century, there are indications of an accelerating decline in mortality rates, particularly among infants and young children. Yet the overall impact is clear: Africans were, on average, living longer and dying older. The chapter turns to discuss a crucial factor in the increasing denial of death: modern medicine. As individual life expectancy and the overall population in the Gold Coast begun to increase dramatically, the chapter examines how these changes impacted upon attitudes towards death and upon the experience of dying.
Age-Specific Death Rates in Negro Infants and Young Children in Antigua, British West Indies, in Recent Years
