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The death-rate, which in the three preceding years had been 17.5, 15.6, and 15.0, per 1,000
respectively, was 15.2 in 1902* and 1.1 below the decennial average (16.3), and 2.5 below the
rate in the Metropolis as a whole (17.7) the decennial average for the Metropolis being 19.2.
The rate in the sub-districts was: Town 17.1, Brompton 10.1 per 1,000, as compared with
17.1 and 9.4 respectively, in 1901.
The deaths in North Kensington were 1,768, and the death-rate 19.0 per 1,000.
The deaths in South Kensington were 978, and the death-rate 11.2 per 1,000.
The sex death-rate (whole borough) was : males 19.8, females 12.7 per 1,000.
Localised Death-rates.— During some years past the death-rate of localised portions of
the parish, including the sanitary districts, has been given in these reports. The rate, as regards
the sub-districts and parliamentary divisions, was calculated on the basis of the population of those
areas enumerated at quinquennial census periods, corrected yearly for increase, and was closely
approximate to the crude rate. But as regards the sanitary districts, only an estimated population
and an estimated rate could be given; the continuity of the statistics, moreover, was always liable
to be disturbed upon any change in the number of the said districts: four changes were made
within a few years. Having, in 1901, received from the Registrar-General a statement of the
population of the nine wards comprised in the borough, and regard being had to the improbability
of any change in the number, and to the fact that the population of the wards will be ascertainable
at five-yearly intervals, it was thought that the value of these localised statistics would be enhanced
by adopting the ward, in place of the sanitary district, as the unit tor the calculation of the deathrate,
and this was done. The ward-rate for the year 1902 is set out below; the rate for each of the
thirteen four-weekly periods in the table at page 12.
The ward-rate:—
St. Charles 385 deaths, or 17.1 per 1,000 persons living.
North Golborne 488 deaths, or 18.1 per 1,000 persons living.
Kensington Norland 563 deaths, or 23.4 per 1,000 persons living.
Pembridge 332 deaths, or 16.8 per 1,000 persons living.
Holland 274 deaths, or 13.1 per 1,000 persons living.
Earl's Court 237 deaths, or 12.8 per 1,000 persons living.
South Queen's Gate 116 deaths, or 7.9 per 1,000 persons living.
Kensington Redcliffe 213 deaths, or 11.1 per 1,000 persons living.
Brompton 138 deaths, or 9.5 per 1,000 persons living.
The Corrected or True Death-Rate in 1902.—The death rate, 15.2 per 1,000, as
calculated above, is a crude or uncorrected one, not taking cognizance of the relative numbers of
the sexes, nor of the age-distribution of the population. Correction for these data involves addition
to, or subtraction from, the "recorded death-rate," as compared with the "standard death-rate."†
The necessity for such correction in the borough is obvious, having regard to the great excess
of females in the population, and to the lower death-rate in the female sex as compared with the
rate in the male sex. That excess in 1902 was approximately 38,650. The deaths among the
69,425 males (1,374) were practically the same as the number among the 108,075 females (1,372.)
The crude death-rate in the male sex was 19.8, as compared with the rate of 12.7 in the female sex.
It is obvious, therefore, that if the numbers of the sexes had been equal the death-rate would have
been higher than the recorded rate. The Registrar-General, some years since, gave the " factor for
correction for sex and age-distribution" in the thirty-three great towns of England and Wales; and
the Medical Officer of Health of the London County Council, in his annual report for 1901, gives
the corresponding factor for each of the Metropolitan Boroughs. Corrected after the manner
indicated, the death-rate of Kensington in 1902 becomes, instead of 15.2, one of about 16.2 per
1,000; and the rate for London, as a whole, about 18.6, instead of 17.7. The "true" death-rate is
that which shows the mortality per 1,000 living of each sex at different age-periods, and this is
shown for the borough in the following table:—
* This is the crude death-rate. The rate corrected for age and sex-distribution was 16.2. per 1,000. The corrected or
" true" death-rate is set out in the table at page 9.
† "The standard death-rate signifies the death-rate at all ages, calculated on the hypothesis that the rates for each
sex at each of twelve age-periods in each town were the same as in England and Wales, during the 10 years 1891-1900, the
death-rate at all ages in England and Wales during that period having been 18.21 per 1,000." (Registrar-General's Annual Summary.)