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MORTALITY OF CHILDHOOD. 39
MORTALITY IN CHILDHOOD.
Under this general heading the wastage of life among infants under one year of age, and
that at ages between one and five years, will be considered. An account of the work in
connection with "Infant Rearing" forms a natural pendant to the first of the two subjects.
Infantile Mortality.
During the past year 348 deaths of infants under one year (of whom 53 were children of
non-resident parents) were recorded in the Borough, or 26 less than the total for 1908 (374—
the latter year including 53 weeks instead of 52). The crude infantile mortality was 119 per
1,000 births registered locally, showing an increase of 1 above the figure for the previous
year (118). The crude mean rate for the ten years 1899-1908 was 139 (Table I., Appendix),
the corresponding rates for the two quinquennia included therein being 146 and 132 respectively.
The statement given below shows the variations from the quinquennial mean
rates exhibited in the returns for each of the quarters of last year.
Crude Infantile Mortality.
Quarters 1. 2. 3. 4. Year.
1909 135 99 117 129 120
1904-08 134 105 155 133 132
Prior to 1905 the only corrections possible in this rate were those for deaths for nonresidents,
and deaths of residents in out-lying institutions, the rate having to be calculated
on the number of births registered within the Borough. The corrected total of deaths last
year was 311, and the rate, per 1,000 births registered within the Borough, 107, as compared
with 110 and 115 in 1908 and 1907 respectively. The corresponding mean rate for the five
years 1904-08 was 119, which contrasts very favourably with that for 1894-98 (153).
Since 1905 it has been possible to correct the births more or less completely. According
to the Department's records the corrected number of births was 3,031 last year, which gives
an infantile mortality of 102 per 1,000 births. The Registrar-General, however, gives the
number of births as 3,120 and the mortality as 100 (and the mean rate for 1904-08 as 113).
Lower rates were recorded last year (Table 10) in Westminster (93), Marylebone (99),
Hampstead (75), and Willesden (96). For the purposes of local comparisons, the Department's
totals, viz., births 3,031 and deaths 311, are used.
The 311 deaths comprised 165 of males and 146 of females, the average numbers for the
preceding quinquennium being—males 216 and females 163. (See Table VII., Appendix).
The rates recorded in each of the five years 1905-09 are given in Table 32. Owing to the
absence of means of correcting the births in 1904, the fully corrected rate cannot be given
for the quinquennium 1904-08. The sex mortality rates were 106 for males and 99 for females.
As in previous years, the minimum rate (for persons) was recorded in Lancaster Gate, West,
Ward, and the maximum in Church, the latter rate being the highest recorded during the
whole period. The same observation applies to the rates for males, but among females the
lowest rate recorded last year was that of Harrow Road Ward, Church Ward still retaining
the maximum for the year, that Ward's rate for 1906 being, however, the maximum (female)
rate in the series.