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A further correction can be made according to age and sex
distribution. This is a more satisfactory method for ascertaining
the healthiness of a district. The death-rate for a district will
vary according to the character of its population, e.g., a district
containing a large number of very young or very old people will
have a higher death-rate than a district where there is a large
proportion of people of middle age.
For the purpose of ascertaining this rate, a factor forcorrection
is supplied by the Registrar General for each Metropolitan
Borough, which is obtained by him from the Census returns, and
which varies for each Metropolitan district according to the age
and sex distribution of its inhabitants. The recorded death-rate
of the district multiplied by this factor gives the death-rate which
would obtain in that district if the age and sex distribution of
the population of the district were in the same proportions as it
is in the country as a whole.
The death-rate for the Borough calculated in this way is
13 08 for the year 1912.
Sub-dividing the death-rate amongst the three registration
sub-districts it will be noted that there has been a decrease in the
death-rate, most marked in North-West Battersea. The following
table shows the death-rates per 1,000 of the population in
the Borough and sub-districts for the ten years 1902-1911:—