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
Coulsdon and Purley 1950
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Coulsdon]
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In 1950 there were 17,885 occupied houses, distributed as
follows:—
Coulsdon East 2,775
Coulsdon West 3,070
Purley 2,685
Woodcote 1,647
Sanderstead 4,647
Selsdon and Farleigh 1,754
Kenley 1,307
This suggests an average of 3.61 persons per occupied house
in 1950, or 3.31 if the institutional population is excluded.
VITAL STATISICS.
The following table gives the average population, birth, death, maternal and other important mortality rates for the quinquennial periods 1920-1949, together with the actual figures for 1949 and 1950.
| Rates per 1,000 population. | 1920-1924. | 1925-1929. | 1930-1934. | 1935-1939. | 1940-1944. | 1945-1949. | 1949. | 1950. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth rate | 13.5 | 12.9 | 11.6 | 12.8 | 15.2 | 15.2 | 13.0 | 11.7 |
| Percentage illegitimate | 3.4% | 3.7% | 2.8% | 3.4% | 3.9% | 3.4% | 2.5% | 2.9% |
| Stillbirth rate | — | — | — | 0.43 | 0.48 | 0.40 | 0.33 | 0.20 |
| Death rate | 7.4 | 7.0 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 11.4 | 9.7 | 9.1 | 9.5 |
| Cancer death rate | 0.96 | 1.15 | 1.35 | 1.19 | 1.70 | 1.75 | 1.73 | 1.84 |
| Tuberculosis death rate (per 100,000 population) | 57 | 36 | 38 | 35 | 48 | 36 | 38 | 26 |
| Violence including Suicide | 0.44 | 0.35 | 0.32 | 0.46 | 0.82 | 0.37 | 0.33 | 0.37 |
| Maternal mortality rate per 1.000 live and still births | 2.08 | 2.66 | 3.21 | 2.27 | 2.10 | 1.12 | Nil | 2.60 |
| Infant mortality rate (per 1.000 registered births) | 28 | 38 | 32 | 38 | 40 | 26 | 25 | 17 |
| Neo-natal mortality rate | - | - | - | 26 | 28 | 19 | 14 | 11 |
| Estimated population | 21,351 | 28,950 | 41,616 | 53,084 | 49,880 | 60,610 | 64,030 | 64,490 |
BIRTHS.
During the year 1950, 755 births were registered as occurring
in the District, of which 382 were male and 373 were female,
compared with 834 in 1949. It will be seen by reference to the
above table that this is equal to an annual birth rate of 11.7
per 1,000 population, as compared with 13.0, 14.6 and 17.0 in
the previous three years. The rate of 17.6 in 1946 was the
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