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The death-rate for Battersea is, therefore, 14.5 per 1,000
inhabitants as compared with 14.2 for London. This rate is,
however, uncorrected, and on analysing the 2,429 deaths
registered in the Borough of Battersea, it is found that 589 represent
deaths occurring within the Borough among persons not
belonging thereto. These deaths are to be deducted; but, on the
other hand, there are 525 deaths of Battersea residents registered
outside the Borough, and these must be added, giving a corrected
number of deaths for Battersea during 1913 of 2,365 (1,257 males
and 1,108 females, an excess of 149 males) and a corrected deathrate
of 14.1 as compared with 14.2 for London (the total corrected
number of London deaths being 65,030).
A more correct method of ascertaining the death-rate of a
district is that based upon age and sex distribution. The deathrate
of 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 for
correction is supplied by the Registrar-General for each Metropolitan
Borough, which is obtained by him from the Census
returns. This factor 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
proportion as it is in the country as a whole.
The death-rate for the Borough calculated in this way is 14.2
for the year 1913.
Sub-dividing the death-rate amongst the three registration
sub-districts, it will be noted that, as compared with 1912, there
has been a marked increase in the death-rate in East and NorthWest
Battersea ; while in South-West Battersea there has also to
be recorded a slight rise. The following table shows the deathrates
per 1,000 of the population in the Borough and sub-districts
for the ten years 1903-1912 :—