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15
Since that time it has been assumed that Hampstead
has continued to hold this unenviable record and as complete
figures for other areas are not available in some cases for a
long time it has not been practicable to disprove this assumption.
It has, however, been possible to obtain the necessary
information from the Annual Reports on other Boroughs and it
will be seen from the table below that for the last three years
for which figures have been published, 1956, 1957 and 1958, the
suicide rate for Hampstead is lower than for one or more of the
neighbouring Boroughs.

It should be remembered that these rates are
calculated from comparatively small numbers of cases and they
can for this reason be somewhat misleading. For example, in
1956 the national average rate of suicides per 100,000 of the
population was 11.8. In that year the rate in Holborn depended
on three deaths giving a rate of 13.27 which is 12½ go per cent.
above the national average. Had there been one less death the
rate would have been 25 per cent. below the national average.
It is perhaps of interest to note that the statistical
report of the World Health Organisation for 1956 (reported in
"The Times" 7th March, 1960) states that the suicide rate for
men per 100,000 of the population in certain areas was:- West
Berlin 42.2; Finland 570; Austria 52.4; Switzerland 31.9;
Sweden 31.2; and Denmark 30.2. All these rates are higher than
the highest recorded in Hampstead.
During 1959 there were 25 suicides which compares
with 27 cases in 1958 or with an average of 25 over the previous
five years. The 23 cases for which information is available
have been analysed as follows:-