Urbanization and industrialization versus biological status of human populations

The paper concerns the biological status of the Polish population. A comparison was made for inhabitants of towns, villages, and areas under different levels of industrialization and environmental pollution. It has been found that urban populations as compared with rural ones were characterized by a smaller number of children within a family, higher natural abortion rate, and higher infant mortality (estimated during the first 24 hours of life). An analysis of birth rate in three groups of birth weight has shown that rural habitats were more suitable for prenatal development than urban habitats, as a higher proportion of newborns had optimum body weight at birth in villages. It has been observed that the biological status of fetus (estimated as the body weight at birth) depended on the socio-economic conditions (a relatively high birth rate with optimum body weight in the first half of the 1970s, and a low birth rate in the years of the social crisis in Poland in 1981-82). Moreover, it has been found that in agricultural areas relatively little polluted (the Suwałki region), birth rate and total mortality were high, respiratory traits reached highest values, and blood pressure was low as compared with values of these traits in other areas of Poland. The inhabitants of industrial centers (Puchaczów, Bukowno) were exposed to heavier environmental pollution than the rural population, and at Puchaczów they were characterized by a short stature and low body weight. The seaside region (Jastarnia) was over-crowded and also affected by the pollution of the Puck Bay. Both these factors could account for a high mortality and emigration rate. Inhabitants of the areas being industrialized (Bełchatów) were characterized by a low total mortality, below average for infants, poor development of the respiratory system, but a high psychomotor fitness. In the city of Lódź and in Strzemieszyce, environmental pollution was very high, which was combined with a very high total mortality, and in Lódź also with a high infant mortality. In Strzemieszyce, the values of some physiological traits such as Hb and HR were increased.