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VITAL STATISTICS OF KENSAL TOWN IN THE
FIVE YEARS 1891-5.
It is of some interest to compare the mortality and infectious
disease figures of Kensal Town with those of the home district. The
population of Kensal Town being comparatively a small one, it is necessary
to take the figures of a period of some years in duration in order to
avoid the errors inseparable from paucity of data, and to arrive at conclusions
to which some weight can be attached for the purposes of
comparison.
The average annual birth-rate of Kensal Town during the 5 years
1891-5 is 30.2 per 1,000. The average annual birth-rate during the
same period for the home district is 27.6 per 1,000.
The average annual death-rate of Kensal Town for the 5 years is
15.34 per 1,000, the corresponding rate for the home district being
20.76 per 1,000. Some small part of this difference of 5.42 per 1,000
in the death-rate may be accounted for by the age-distribution of the
Kensal Town population being more favourable to a low death-rate than
the age-constitution of the home district population, but there are no
published figures available for making the necessary correction. Judging
from the death-rate it must be concluded that the average population of
Kensal Town is either healthier than the average of the home district,
or that the people at Kensal Town are less exposed to risks and dangers
inimical to health and life than those of Chelsea proper.
As regards deaths from the seven principal zymotic diseases, there
is not much difference between Kensal Town and the home district.
The average annual zymotic death-rate for the 5 years 1891-5 is for
Kensal Town 2.6 per 1,000, and for the home district 2.7 per 1,000.
As regards the particular diseases forming this class there are some
differences in Kensal Town and the home district which will be best
shown as in Table XI., by expressing the mortality from each disease of
Kensal Town parishioners in the 5 years as a percentage of the total
mortality of the parish.