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I
[1915
REPORT
OF THE
Medical Officer of Health
FOR THE YEAR 1915.
Population, 316,242—The population of Islington, on which the
mortality rates are based, has usually been estimated on the assumption that
the rate of increase or decrease during the preceding inter-censal period had
continued; but in view of the fall in the rate of natural increase since 1911,
and an increased loss of men of military age by migration owing to the war,
the Registrar-General has found it impossible to adhere to the methods of
estimation of local populations hitherto in use.
In these circumstances it was found that estimates based on the census
returns were inadmissible, and, therefore, the Registrar-General has thought it
necessary to find a substitute for them in the National Register Returns
made on August 15th, 1915, which refer to a date only six weeks removed
from that for which the estimates were required viz.:—the middle of the year
1915.
By these returns it was possible to derive an estimate of the civil population
of each administrative area. No attempt has, however, been made to
increase these by making an allowance for members of the fighting forces,
owing to the difficulty of ascertaining the average military population of each
district during the year.
In present circumstances, only civilian deaths are tabulated; and,
therefore, in this report it is proposed to limit the tabulation of deaths to those
of civilians, and to calculate the death rates on the Registrar-General's
estimated civil population of the borough for 1915 (310,242), which is based
on the returns of the National Register above mentioned.
The population used for the calculation of the Birth-rate, however, is .
based upon the existing estimates for 1914; as the births registered are not