London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1933
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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the deaths from this cause in 1933 were 1,012 above those in 1932 ; on the other
hand there was no epidemic of measles and the deaths from this cause were fewer
by 721 than in the previous year. No conspicuous departure from the normal is
observed in other predominant causes of death.
The decrease in the number of deaths from street accidents recorded in the two
preceding reports was not maintained ; during 1933 the deaths numbered 763 in the
52 registration weeks, as against 683 last year and 731 in 1931.
The death-rates from all causes and from certain specified causes in each metropolitan
borough in 1933 and in London as a whole in 1933 and earlier years will be
found in the tables on pages 22 and 24.
The deaths under one year of age per thousand births were 60 as compared with
67 in the preceding year.
Infant
mortality
The infant mortality rate for 1933 calculated on the provisional figures of births and deaths in London during the registration year of fifty-two weeks was 54 per thousand, and this was the lowest rate ever shown by these figures, the previous lowest being 56 in 1930. It was, therefore, confidently expected that, when the finally corrected figures for 1933 became available, they also would show a record low rate, but the effect of correction was to increase the rate by as much as 6 per 1,000, the result being a corrected rate of 60, as compared with the corresponding rate of 59 for 1930. Calculated to decimal places, the rate for 1930 was 59.17 and for 1933 59.51, so that the margin by which the record remains with the year 1930 is very small.
| Cause of death. | 1911 to 1914. | 1915 to 1918. | 1919 to 1922. | 1923 to 1926. | 1927 to 1930. | 1929. | 1930. | 1931. | 1932. | 1933. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All causes | 108 | 103 | 79 | 65 | 64 | 71 | 59 | 65 | 67 | 60 |
The average infant mortality for the four years 1930-33, namely 63 per 1,000
births, is less by about 42 per cent. than that for the period 1911-14. Among the
causes of death shown in the table the most remarkable decrease is that from tuberculosis,
the mortality in 1930-33 from this cause being less than one-fourth of that in
1911-14.
In the following table the birth-rates per 1,000 of population, the fertility-rates (legitimate births per 100 married women aged 15-45 years), the percentage of
illegitimate births and the infant mortality rates for the county of London and each
metropolitan borough are shown for the three-year periods 1921-23 and 1930-32, the
percentage increase or decrease in the rates being also shown.
The decrease in the fertility-rates shows some variation in the different boroughs,
but having regard to the divergent conditions of life the percentage decrease is
generally remarkably constant.
To the general marked decrease in the infant mortality there are some exceptions
which are difficult to account for. In the case of Paddington the rate has considerably
increased; one of the factors in this exception to the general movement
may perhaps be found in the increase in illegitimacy, and the social conditions which
this connotes. It will be noticed that the illegitimacy rate is excessive in all
boroughs which show an increase in infant mortality.