View report page

There were no deaths from Small-pox or Typhus,
and only seven from Enteric and Simple fever.
The fatal cases of Scarlet-fever fell from 23 to 16,
being 48 below the average. Whooping cough
was very prevalent during the first quarter of the
year, and Measles during the first and last quarters.
The deaths from Diarrhœal diseases were most
numerous in the third quarter, when 70 deaths
occurred out of 98 during the year. The birth
rate, which had been continuously declining for
several years, rose from 36.1 to 37.2.
On a former occasion I called attention to the
fact, that the lower birth rates which had prevailed
during recent years must necessarily have
led to a corresponding diminution in the proportion
of infants and children under five years of age.
The Registrar General is of opinion that the marked
decline in the death rates of recent years has been
in some part due to the decline in the birth rate,
and had the birth rate in the successive five years
1882-86 been equal to the birth rate in the ten
years 1871-80 there would have been, so nearly as
can be estimated, some 50,000 more children under
five living in 1886, and as the mortality in this first
life-period is high, the general death rate would
have been raised about 0 5. In some of the West
End Districts which are remarkable for very low
rates of mortality, it is observable that the birth rate
is also very low, and has been so for several years.
For Registration purposes the Parish of
Bermondsey is unequally divided into three
Districts; between these Districts there are considderable
differences in density of population and
general healthiness.
iii.