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From Table XVIII. (Local Government Board, Table IV.), it will be
seen that out of a total of 87 deaths of infants under one year of age in 1914,
36, or 41.4 per cent. occurred in the first four weeks of life, as compared
with 41.1 per cent. in 1913. Twenty-one deaths occurred in the first week
of life, equal to 24.1 per cent. of the total, the corresponding figure for 1913
being 26.8 per cent.
The majority of these deaths in the first month of life are due to prematurity,
congenital defects, injury at birth, and wasting. For deaths
under one month the rate of mortality in 1914 was 27.9 per 1,000 births,
as against 38 in 1913, and 26 in 1912, the average rate for the 9 years, 1905-13
being 37.
Between the ages of 1 month and 12 months, 51 deaths, or 58.6 per
cent. of the total, occurred in 1914, as compared with 58.9 per cent. in 1913,
19 of these deaths being due to diarrhoea and enteritis, as compared with
22 in 1913.
The principal causes of death amongst infants under one year of age
in 1914 were:—Diarrhœa and enteritis, 19; wasting, 16; prematurity, 15;
pneumonia, 12; congenital malformations, 8; and suffocation by overlaying,
5.