The Inheritance of Longevity in a Flemish Village (18th–20th Century)

The transmission of longevityor post-reproductive survival from parents tooffspring is investigated using data ondemographic and socio-economic characteristicsof the inhabitants of a small Flemish village(Moerzeke) over a period of three hundredyears. This research confirms the possibleexistence of biological mechanisms intransmitting longevity from parent tooffspring. However, this finding can only beobserved for men and women belonging tospecific birth cohorts (mainly those men bornbetween 1821 and 1860 and those women bornbetween 1791 and 1830). Furthermore, thesex-specificity of the transmission, which waspresent in other studies, is not found in thisresearch. Both factors indicate that theimportance of one's biological potential forlongevity can only be realized in specificsocietal conditions.