The research is concerned with the actual problem of neonatal and post-Natal mortality in the 1940s - 1950s and considered on the example of the Stalingrad region. This is a period of overcoming the demographic consequences of the Great Patriotic War, when, in the conditions of the most severe shortage of resources and general ruin, it was necessary to restore the population of the region. In this regard, infant mortality was an important factor in demographic development, being the indicator of the effectiveness of the socio-economic and demographic policy of the soviet state. On the basis of statistical data for the first time introduced into scientific circulation, the dynamics of child mortality at the age of up to one year, which was a consequence of living conditions in this difficult historical period, was traced. Special attention is given to the changes in the structure of causes of infant mortality. It is shown that in the 1940s. the largest number of children died from infectious and gastrointestinal diseases, whereas in the 1950s. there is a decrease in mortality for these causes and an increase in mortality in the neonatal period from internal malformations, birth injuries, and premature birth. The main conclusion of the study is the trends in infant mortality, which were laid down in this period and have already proved themselves in modern times.
