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The death-rate for Bethnal Green, 11.3, was the
same as that for the County of London.
The year 1923 was the healthiest ever known,
both in England and Wales and in Bethnal Green.
Indeed, it may be said that the English people enjoyed
an immunity from death and disease greater
than has ever yet been recorded for a population of
the same size, and Bethnal Green has shared in this
improvement. The death-rate of 11.3 per 1,000 persons
was most nearly approached in 1921, when the
death-rate was 12.9. Previous to the Great War,
the usual figure for the death-rate varied between
15 and 18 per 1,000.
The causes of this lowered mortality were largely
the comparative absence of influenza and measles
until the end of the year and the consequent smaller
number of cases of the respiratory diseases which
commonly follow on these epidemic diseases. Whooping-cough,
often a serious cause of mortality, was not
very prevalent.
Apart from the lowered mortality due to the
causes above mentioned, it is a remarkable fact how
little bad effect the prevalent unemployment and
industrial depression has had on the public health
and mortality. Owing to the highly developed system
of public relief, few persons are seriously underfed
or underclothed, and, as a consequence, the resistance
of the population to disease continues to be maintained.
Due credit must also be given to the high
standard of health and sanitation maintained in the
homes of the people by the local authorities, by the
vigilance and perseverance of their health visitors,
sanitary inspectors and other officers.
Infantile mortality and the mortality from tuberculosis
and other infectious diseases are subjects of
comment in other parts of this Report.
The causes of death among the population of
Bethnal Green are classified in the following table: —