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8
During 1959 the Registrar General estimated the population as
48,960 which is 870 less than in the previous year.
The death rate was 11:6 per 1,000 persons as compared with a
rate of 11.4 for 1958. Both Births and deaths depend to some
extent on the proportions of young and old people and of males
and females in the area, and in order to make comparisons
between one area and another the Registrar General gives Area
Comparability Factors which take into account these variations
in age and sex Using this factor the adjusted death rate for
Bethnal Green would be 11.5 as compared with 11.6 for England and
Wales.
The birth rate during 1959 was 16.7 as compared with 17.4
during the previous year. The adjusted rate for comparison with
other areas is 15 7 as compared with 16.5 for England and Wales.
The infant mortality rate of 23.2 as compared with the rate of
22.0 for England and Wales. It is, in Bethnal Green, however,
calculated on a very small number of infant deaths and is consequently
subject to large variations from year to year and as an indication of
child care the figure should be used with some caution.
The causes of death are shown in Table 1, which follows.
Notification of Births
Arrangements continued in operation during the year whereby the
London County Council furnished to the Borough Council a weekly return
of births (including stillbirths) notified to them as the Local
Health Authority under the National Health Service Act, 1946.
During the year 828 live births (421 male and 407 female) were
notified and in addition there were 16 stillbirths ( 7 male and 9
female).
These figures reprerent corrected totals after the addition of
inward transfers and the deduction of outward transfers and the
difference between these figures and those set out previously is due
to the fact that births must be registered within 6 weeks and it is
not uncommon for a child to be born and notified in one calendar year
but not actually registered until the following year.