View report page

16
Death-rate in England and Wales and in London and in other Large Towns.—
The death-rate in England and Wales in 1905, was 15.2 per 1000 ; 1.0 below that of 1904;
2.0 below the average rate in the preceding ten years, and the lowest yet recorded. The rate in
London, as already stated, was 15.1 per 1,000 of the estimated population, 1.5 below the
corresponding rate in 1904; 3.2 below the average rate in the 10 years 1895-1904, and the lowest
on record.

Greater London.—The death-rate in " Greater London"—which is co-extensive with the
" Metropolitan" and "City" Police Districts, the population of which at the middle of the year
was 7,010,172 (viz. 4,684,794 in Inner or Registration London and 2,325,378 in the Outer Ring) was
144 per 1,000, as compared with 16.4, 14.5 and 15.5 severally in the preceding three years. In the
County of London the mortality was at the rate of 15.1 per 1,000, whilst in the Outer Ring it did
not exceed 11.8. Infantile mortality in Greater London was equal to 123 per 1000 births, as
compared with 135, 126 and 143, severally, in the preceding three years. Last year infantile
mortality was equal to 129 per 1,000 in the County of London and to 108 in the Outer Ring.
Other Large Towns.—The crude death-rate in the seventy-six large towns, including
London (population 15,609,377), was 15.7 per 1,000, the rates in the preceding three years having
been 17.4, 16.3 and 17.2. The death-rates of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin and Belfast were
severally 16.2, 17.9, 21.3 and 20.1. These rates are calculated without reference to differences
between one town and another with regard to the age and sex-distribution of their respective
populations. But the sex and age composition of the several populations having been ascertained
at the census of 1901, suitable factors have been calculated for correcting the recorded death-rates
in the large towns in order to render them fairly comparable with one another; and in his Annual
Summary the Registrar-General (page vi.) furnishes a table showing the recorded and corrected
death-rates per 1,000 persons living, in each of the 76 towns in 1905.
Colonial and Foreign Cities.—The authorities of a large number of the principal cities
supply returns of mortality to the Registrar-General. The highest death-rates recorded in 1905,
were, Trieste 28T, Moscow 27.9, and St. Petersburg 25.0 ; the lowest, Sydney 11.0, The Hague 13.7,
and Amsterdam 13.8.
Indian Cities.—The death-rate was 34.4 per 1,000 in Calcutta, 58.7 in Madras, and
48.6 in Bombay.
ASSIGNED CAUSES OF DEATH.
The Registrar-General issued, in 1902, a "New List of Causes of Death, as used in the
Annual Reports for England and Wales, together with " Suggestions to Medical Practitioners
respecting Certificates of Causes of Death," in which it is stated to be " highly desirable that
Medical Practitioners should use only those terms which are recognised by the Royal College of
Physicians of London."* This List takes the place of the one used in these reports for many
years as Table III., and since 1900 as Table VIII. It comprises the "General Diseases," i.e.,
those in which the whole body may be said to suffer, and the " Local Diseases," of various
systems and organs, set out in Table VIII., at page 112, in which the first twenty diseases are those
formerly described as " Specific, Febrile or Zymotic Diseases chief among them being the
nine " Principal Zymotic Diseases;"three of which were formerly associated under the generic
term " Fever," which comprises Typhus-fever, Enteric-fever, and Simple continued fever
(Pyrexia).
* The Registrar-General placed at my disposal a sufficient number of copies of the New List to enable me to forward one
to each registered medical practitioner in the Borough, which was done in October, 1902.