View report page

10
should be transferred to districts outside Hackney, as the mothers
were not Hackney residents, and 32 births, taking place in other
districts should be transferred to Hackney. Making these corrections,
there remain 176 illegitimate births amongst Hackney
residents. This is an increase of 12 on the number during 1917.
The illegitimate birth-rate for Hackney during 1918 is 53.8 per
1,000 births, that for 1917 was 43.7 per 1,000 births.
Deaths.—After making the necessary corrections for residents
dying outside the Borough and for non-residents dying within
the Borough, the corrected number of deaths amongst
Hackney residents during 1918 is 3,708. This is an increase of
855 upon the number occurring during 1917. The general deathrate
from all causes for the year 1918 is therefore 18.9 per 1,000
of the population. For the calculation of this rate the RegistrarGeneral's
estimated population of 195,804 is used.
It must be recognised, however, that this is merely the "crude"
death-rate, uncorrected for sex and age distribution, each of which
differs widely in different districts. In normal times the RegistrarGeneral
supplies for each of the various large towns figures which
are known as the "factor-for-correction." but these factors have
not been calculated for the latter years of the war. The "crude"
death-rate of a district multiplied by the factor for that district
gives a result corrected for age and sex for that district; and it is
only when this process has been applied all round that the deathrates
of different districts are brought to a common basis, and
therefore become fairly comparable. Comparisons between "crude"
death rates may give misleading impressions, and should not be
relied upon for more than a rough indication of the relatively high
or low position of the death-rate of a given district.
Infant Mortality.—The deaths under one year of age in the
Borough during 1918, numbered 365. This is an increase of 20
upon the number of infant deaths recorded during 1917. The
infant mortality for the year is 111 per 1,000 births.