Editing Lost Generation (section)

====Health and living conditions====
[[File:Mary Cassatt - The Child's Bath - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|''[[The Child's Bath]]'' by [[Mary Cassatt]] from 1893 of a woman giving a child a wash. The link between hygiene and good health was becoming better understood in Western society by the end of the 19th century and frequent bathing had become common.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elmasry |first=Faiza |date=22 April 2020 |title=Historian Explores the Evolution of Personal Hygiene |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/science-health_historian-explores-evolution-personal-hygiene/6187950.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724153613/https://www.voanews.com/science-health/historian-explores-evolution-personal-hygiene |archive-date=24 July 2021 |access-date=24 July 2021 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref>]]

Sewer systems designed to remove human waste from urban areas had become widespread in industrial cities by the late 19th century, helping to reduce the spread of diseases such as [[cholera]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=How London got its Victorian sewers |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/engineering-technology/how-london-got-its-victorian-sewers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624212420/https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/engineering-technology/how-london-got-its-victorian-sewers |archive-date=24 June 2021 |access-date=24 June 2021 |website=OpenLearn |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Sewers |url=https://greywateraction.org/history-sewers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624205952/https://greywateraction.org/history-sewers/ |archive-date=24 June 2021 |access-date=24 June 2021 |website=Greywater Action |language=en-US}}</ref> Legal standards for the quality of drinking water also began to be introduced.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slow Sand Filtration of Water |url=https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/ssf9241540370.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008223315/http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/ssf9241540370.pdf |archive-date=8 October 2012 |access-date=17 December 2012}}</ref> However, the introduction of electricity was slower, and during the formative years of the Lost Generation [[Gas lighting|gas lights]] and candles were still the most common form of lighting.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Electric Light System |url=https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/kidsyouth/the-electric-light-system-phonograph-motion-pictures.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628112332/https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/kidsyouth/the-electric-light-system-phonograph-motion-pictures.htm |archive-date=28 June 2021 |access-date=24 June 2021 |website=Thomas Edison National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |language=en}}</ref>

Though statistics on child mortality dating back to the beginning of the Lost Generation's lifespan are limited, the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] report that in 1900 one in ten American infants died before their first birthday.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Achievements in Public Health, 1900–1999: Healthier Mothers and Babies |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4838a2.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723080557/https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4838a2.htm |archive-date=23 July 2021 |access-date=30 June 2021 |website=www.cdc.gov}}</ref> Figures for the United Kingdom state that during the final years of the 19th century, mortality in the first five years of childhood was plateauing at a little under one in every four births. At around one in three in 1800, the early childhood mortality rate had declined overall throughout the next hundred years but would fall most sharply during the first half of the 20th century, reaching less than one in twenty by 1950. This meant that members of the Lost Generation were somewhat less likely to die at a very early age than their parents and grandparents, but were significantly more likely to do so than children born even a few decades later.<ref>{{Cite web |title=United Kingdom: child mortality rate 1800–2020 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041714/united-kingdom-all-time-child-mortality-rate/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327175529/https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041714/united-kingdom-all-time-child-mortality-rate/ |archive-date=27 March 2021 |access-date=30 June 2021 |website=Statista |language=en}}</ref>