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The death rate at 10.1 per 1,000 persons is 15% below the rate
for the previous year, which is very satisfactory although with
fairly small numbers it is expected that there should be a moderate
variation from year to year. The death rate is also affected by
the composition of the population and it would be expected, for
instance, that an area with a large number of elderly residents would
have a higher death rate than a district where the proportion of old
people was less. In order to make reasonable comparisons therefore,
the Registrar General gives Area Comparability factors which take
into account the variations in the population from the national
average and factors are given both for deaths and for births. Using
this comparability factor the adjusted death rate for Bethnal Green
is 10,7 as compared with a rate of 12.5 for the Administrative County
of London and 11.4 for England and Wales.
The birth rate for 1953 was 15.9 as compared with 17.4 for the
previous year. The adjusted rate for comparison with other areas
is 13.8 as compared with 17.5 for London and 15.5 for England and
Wales. The figures for 1952 were 16.5, 17.6 and 15.3 respectively.
The infantile mortality rate, that is the number of deaths of
children under one year of age for every 1,000 live births, was 14.4.
This is approximately only half the figure for 1952 and whilst it is
very satisfactory it is a rate which is based on a very small number
of deaths and it varies considerably from year to year. The rate
for London was 24.8 and it would be reasonable to say that although
the rate should be interpreted with caution it does indicate that
the standard of child care in Bethnal Green is at least as good as
that for London as a whole.
The causes of death are shown in Table 1, which follows. There
was a general reduction in the number of deaths but there was no
significant change in the proportion of deaths attributable to any
particular cause.
Notification of Births
Arrangements continued in operation during the year whereby the
London County Council furnished to the Borugh Council a weekly
return of births (including stillbirths) notified to them as the
Local Health Authority under the National Health Service Act, 1946.