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4
POPULATION.
In the following pages, two figures representing population are employed,
viz.: 98,526, used in connection with the calculation of all rates, except the birth-rate,
for which, in accordance with the instructions of the Registrar-General, the figure
110,395 is used.
BIRTHS.
Registration.—Births registered numbered 1,375 (Boys, 725: Girls, 650).
The birth-rate was 12.4 per 1,000.
Notifications of births received, including 1,764 belonging to other districts,
numbered 3,281, the chief sources being : Parents, 69: Doctors, 253; Midwives
690; and from Hospitals, 2,057 (Queen Charlotte's, 1,662: Middlesex, 395). In
1,129 cases, the birth occurred at home. Still births notified, numbered 137.
DEATHS AND DEATH-RATES.
The total deaths of Marylebone persons, whether occurring within or outside the
boundaries, amounted to 1,835 (males, 894 : females, 941).
The death-rate for the Borough was 18.53 and for the registration sub-districts:
All Souls, 14.8: St. Mary, 15.9: Christ Church, 23.2: St. John, 19.8.
Causes of and Ages at Death.—Table III of the Local Government Board
series (p. 23) contains an analysis of the deaths in relation to cause and age. It shows
that of the total 1,835, 8.3 per cent, were of infants under 1; 18.5 per cent, of
persons between 25 and 45 ; 26.3 per cent, of persons between 45 and 65, while
31.0 per cent, were aged over 65.
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The number of babies under 1 year of age who died during 1918 was 152; in
the same period the number of births was 1,375; the infantile mortality rate was
therefore 110.5, as against 120.9 in 1917.
Apart from "Prematurity," (including" congenital malformation," "premature
birth," "atrophy," and "debility and marasmus,") which caused 43 deaths, and, as
usual, heads the list, the outstanding causes were diarrhcea and enteritis (26
deaths), pneumonia (16) and bronchitis (12). Measles, which in 1917 caused
16 deaths, was responsible for 2 only in 1918. It is largely because of the
comparative absence of measles as a death cause that the rate in 1918 is lower by
10 per 1,000 than in 1917.
Considerable as this reduction was, it still leaves the rate higher than in
1916 (103.6) and in preceding years. Being a reduction, however, it is encouraging
and gives reason to hope that with the organization and the will to work existing in
the Borough, a figure much more satisfactory to everybody will be obtained.
The organization in respect of maternity and child welfare has very frequently
been described in these reports, and, as is well-known it contains voluntary and
official elements. Of the voluntary elements, those for which the St. Marylebone
Health Society is responsible, bulk largest, and the Council are greatly indebted to
this body and those who work for it, for what they have done and what they are
doing. Apart from the Health Society, however, there were other bodies that
rendered assistance, viz.: The Women's League of Social Service,Queen Charlotte's