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 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Coulsdon]
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PART 2 - ASSESSMENT OF THE HEALTH
OF THE DISTRICT.
VITAL STATISTICS.
For many years information has been collected nationally
with a view to deducing whether the general state of the public
health is satisfactory, to noting any tendencies to variation and to
the introduction of any measures which appear desirable for its
improvement.
Averages are desirable in order to even out the wide differences which are apt to occur from year to year when dealing with only relatively small numbers. An illustration of this will be included later.
| Rates per 1,000 population. | 1920-1924. | 1925-1929. | 1930-1934. | 1935-1939. | 1940-1944. | 1945-1949. | 1950-1954. | 1956. | 1957. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth rate | 13.5 | 12.9 | 11.6 | 12.8 | 15.2 | 15.2 | 12.0 | 13.6 | 14.1 |
| Percentage illegitimate | 3.4% | 3.7% | 2.8% | 3.4% | 3.9% | 3.4% | 2.7% | 2.3% | 2.0% |
| Stillbirth rate | — | — | — | 0.43 | 0.48 | 0.40 | 0.24 | 0.20 | 0.26 |
| Death rate | 7.4 | 7.0 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 11.4 | 9.7 | 12.1 | 14.0 | 14.8 |
| Cancer death rate | 0.96 | 1.15 | 1.35 | 1.19 | 1.70 | 1.75 | 2.02 | 2.29 | 2.27 |
| Tuberculosis death rate (per 100,000 population) | 57 | 36 | 38 | 35 | 48 | 36 | 25 | 23 | 7 |
| Violence including Suicide | 0.44 | 0.35 | 0.32 | 0.46 | 0.82 | 0.37 | 0.46 | 0.65 | 0.46 |
| Maternal mortality rate per 1,000 live and still births | 2.08 | 2.66 | 3.21 | 2.27 | 2.10 | 1.12 | 1.01 | Nil | 1.00 |
| Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 registered births) | 28 | 38 | 32 | 38 | 40 | 26 | 21 | 10 | 17 |
| Neo-natal mortality rate | _ | _ | _ | 26 | 28 | 19 | 15 | 7 | 14 |
| Estimated population | 21,351 | 28,950 | 41,616 | 53,084 | 49,880 | 60,610 | 64,466 | 66,460 | 67,830 |
BIRTHS.
For various reasons it is important to know how many babies
are being born each year. For example, we want to know the
total number of persons in the Country, how many places will be
needed in the infants' schools five years hence and so on.
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