Individual-Level Data on Causes of Death in Madrid From 1905 to 1927

In this article, we present the Madrid database on causes of death, which currently covers the entire city for the period 1905–1927 and includes 366,542 individual notices. Such a resource is unique in the Mediterranean context. The genesis of our data lies in a political and intellectual context dominated by a complex mixture of fears, class contempt, and sincere concern for the most vulnerable, especially children, which explain the development of social and health data and the widespread use of quantitative methods in early 20th-century Spain, particularly in its capital. This resulted in the sources which, over the last 20 years, have been patiently compiled to construct the database of causes of death. The original data were enriched by linking individual data and coding operations, particularly for causes of death, for which two different grids were used. This article questions the quality and reliability of causes of death, that were extraordinarily diverse (n = 1,444). We also summarize the work already accomplished and outline some avenues for future research.