Epidemiological transition, urban infrastructures and development: the city of Porto

Abstract

At the end of the last century the city of Porto began installing drainage systems for domestic waste and piped water, relatively late in comparison with its European counterparts and also with other urban areas in Portugal. The consequences of this delay can be seen in the evolution of general mortality and especially and particularly in the profile of epidemiological transition in the city. This was undoubtedly related to the vicissitudes in the installation of sanitary infrastructures. The cross analysis of the evolution of life expectancy of the populations of Porto and Lisbon with national per capita income indicators leads to the conclusion that the two population groups did not benefit equally from factors outside development, especially in the 1940s and 1950s.