Height, Literacy and Survival: A Composite Index of Wellbeing Based on Data from Military Recruitment (1880–1980)

Starting from the same assumptions used for building the Physical Quality of Life Index and the Human Development Index and trying to overcome the deficiencies inherent in the GDP per capita series estimated for Spain before 1955, this article aims to show how an alternative composite index of standard of living can be elaborated through military recruitment sources. More specifically, the research that we propose here, which is based on the existing information for thirty towns and villages in Extremadura, endeavors to combine in one dynamic annual indicator three variables: average height, survival, and literacy rate. The first one comes from the anthropometric information provided by the Records of Classification and Declaration of Soldiers. The second one, calculated as the proportion of recruits who were still alive at the legal age of enlistment to the total born in each generation, derives from the individualized information that, in order to proceed with the calls necessary for the preparation of the aforementioned records, was collected annually by the local or county civil registers and/or the parishes. Finally, the index incorporates an educational variable: the proportion of recruits who were able to read and write over the total ones who attended each call. With the combination of these three variables and following the path of research by Costa, Steckel, Floud, Harris and Crafts, we are able to discern the historical evolution of well-being in the poorest region of Spain and one of the least developed regions of Europe.