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4
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies, and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report for 1949 of
the work of the Public Health Department. This report is prepared
as in recent years in an abbreviated form in accordance with instructions
given by the Ministry of Health.
I am glad to be able to report that the general health of the
community has remained good and that there was no serious outbreak
of any infectious disease.
Although full information as to changes in the age and sex
constitution of the population will not be available until the results of
the next census are known, some preliminary investigations have
been conducted by the Registrar General and I would like to direct
attention to his conclusions as set out in the report. Not only do
they confirm local estimates of the large number of persons of the
older age groups now living, but also show the tremendous changes
that have occurred since the beginning of the century in the age
structure of society which now has far fewer children to support,
but so many more elderly persons. These changes are of far reaching
social-economic significance, and their import has as yet not been
fully realized. Vast as these changes have been throughout the
country they are shown to have been even greater in Finsbury
than elsewhere. The Percentage increase in the proportion of those
over 65 to those between 15 and 65 who maintain the life of the nation
has been 116 in England and Wales, 147 in London as a whole, and
181 in this Borough.
There has been little change in the Birth and Death rates which
were 18·6 and 13·7 respectively.
Last year I referred to the high proportion of illegitimate births.
In 1948 the percentage of all live births rose to 7·4 after falling
from the high 1945 War Time peak of 11·9 to 5·4 in 1947, whereas
in England and Wales the rate fell from 9·3 in 1945 to 5·3 in 1947
and 5·4 in 1948, and in London as a whole it fell from 11·3 in 1945
to 6·7 in 1947 and 7·0 in 1948. In 1949 the percentage in Finsbury