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Table C.—Death Rate.
Whole
Borough.
Year.
Bermondsey.
Rotherhithe.
St. Olave's.
London.
23.56
25.37
23.6
21.0
1893
23.31
1894
20.35
19.10
22.20
20.1
17.4
21.6
1895
21.89
19.47
26.44
19.4
1896
20.70
22.44
21.6
21.95
18.2
1897
22.22
19.20
22.54
21.4
17.7
1898
21.05
19.56
21.42
20.6
18.3
1899
24.70
22.11
26.42
24.1
19.3
1900
23.49
22.79
22.91
23.2
18.3
1901
21.44
19.43
20.93
20.8
17.1
1902
21.66
19.30
24.62
21.2
17.2
Average
for years
1892-1903
22.23
20.50
23.53
21.8
18.4
1903—
17.08
On estimated
population.
18.54
22.23
18.4
15.1
On Census
population.
18.46
17.03
20.78
18.2
Since the mortality per thousand living is much greater among children under 5 and old
people, and is higher at practically all ages among men, it follows that a community which has a
preponderance of these elements will have ceteris paribus a higher death rate than one which
has not.
The age and sex distribution of the population of England and Wales being taken as a
standard to all communities within their borders, the death rates of different localities can be
calculated on the assumption that they have the same proportions of children under 5, old people
and women, as have the population of England and Wales: By thus eliminating this disturbing
factor of age and sex distribution different communities can be brought into strict comparison
with one another.
In 1883 the Registrar-General commenced a method of correcting the death rates of the
great towns of England and Wales. Taking account of the differences of age and sex distribution
between these and the latter, he has calculated a factor for each great town by which the
recorded death rate must be multiplied so as to allow for the differences of age and sex, and thus
places them as regards these matters on an equal footing. You thus get death rates, the
differences in which can be put down to general sanitary conditions alone. In illustration of this I
have taken the following rates for a Table calculated on the Registrar's method by the Medical
Officer of the London County Council, published in his Annual Report for 1902.
It will be seen from this that in London and the Boroughs the correction raises the death
rate, showing that there is in them a preponderance of people living at ages when the death rate is
low (viz., between 5 and 50) and also of women, sufficient to keep the recorded death rate
down, notwithstanding the great number of children under 5.
Table D.—Death Rates corrected for Age and Sex Constitution of the
various Populations.
Factor for
Correction of
Age and Sex
Distribution.
Crude
Death Rate.
Corrected
Death Rate.
District. Year.
17.2
London 1902
1.05107
18.1
16.9
Camberwell 1902
1.03788
16.3
Deptford 1902
1.05107
16.5
17.3
Sonthwark 1902
1.04684
21.4
22.4
HERMONDSEY 1902
1.03375
21.2
21.9
1.03375
18.4
19.0
„ 1903
Infantile Mortality.
To get the true death rate of any age period, it is necessary to know the number of persons
living at that period. This is generally supplied by the census, but in the case of infants under
one year the information on this head is inaccurate since young children who may be a month or
two under the year, are often returned as a year old owing to the tendency at the census to return
round numbers for ages. The number for one year is certainly under-estimated. It has therefore
been thought that a better estimate of the infantile population is got by taking the number of
births. It would be more logical to take the births of the year previous to the one in question,
but for all practical purposes those of the same year are sufficient, and this plan is now
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