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25
[1904
DEATHS.
Once more the mortality returns for the borough are exceptionally good,
so good, indeed, that only on one previous occasion have they been better,
namely, in the preceding year, when the death-rate was only 14.2 per 1,000.
Now the deaths number only 5,236, of which 2,654 were those of males, and
2,582 of females, and the death-rate was 15.35 per 1,000 of the population.
So that the improvement in the death-rate may be understood the returns
since registration was commenced in 1838 are reprinted from a report issued
five years ago. In these it will be noticed that there has been a steady
improvement since 1870, and that in each succeeding decade the death-rate
has fallen progressively. In the ten years 1861-70 it was 24.64, in the next
decade 1871-80 it averaged 20.40, in the succeeding decade 1881-90 it fell to
18.60, and in the decade 1891-1900 it was as low as 17.50 per 1,000 inhabitants,
since which period it has averaged only 15.44 per 1,000. Thus there has been
a steady decrease. The question naturally arises, to what is this due ? The
causes are not far to seek : first, improved public sanitation ; second, an improvement
in private sanitation—that is to say more orderly and more cleanly
homes, &c. ; and third, the education of the people. These points might be
argued at length, but the limits of such a report as this prevent their discussion.
It is noticeable that during the fourteen years, which is to say since the Public
Health London Act 1891 was enacted, and particularly since 1895, when its
provisions were more stringently enforced, the death-rates have been exceedingly
low. Indeed the death-rate during the last four years has almost
been phenominal in a borough like Islington, containing as it does so many of
the working classes. The borough is to be congratulated on its healthy state.