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15
DEATHS.
The net number of deaths registered during 1934 was 1,186
of which 637 were males and 549 females. This gives a crude Death
Rate for the Borough of 12.23, which figure is slightly increased to
12.47 when the comparability factor furnished by the Registrar
General for adjusting Local Deaths is taken into account.
The adjusted Death Rate is in effect a "corrected" Death
Rate. The Registrar General in a memorandum points out that if
the populations of all areas were similarly constituted as regards the
proportions of their sex and age group components their crude death
rates (deaths per 1,000 population) could be accepted as valid comparative
measures of the mortalities experienced by the several
populations.
Populations, however, are not similarly constituted and their
crude Death Rates therefore fail as true comparative mortality
indexes in that their variations are not due to mortality alone, but
arise also from differences in their population constitution. For
instance a Town with a population consisting of aged persons would
register more deaths than one composed entirely of young and
vigorous adults. Again a town containing a larger number of males
than females records more deaths with a consequent higher Death
Rate than one in which females preponderate.
To overcome this difficulty the Registrar General has worked out
for each area in the Country an adjusting factor which is termed
the Comparability Factor and is based on the last census population
figure.
The Comparability Factor for Greenwich is 1.02 and may be
regarded as the population handicap to be applied, which, when
multiplied by the crude Death Rate for the year, modifies the latter
so as to make it comparable with the Country as a whole or any
other similarly adjusted area.
The Death Rates for the County of London and for England
and Wales are 11.9 and 11.8 respectively.
The following table showing causes of death at all ages has
been supplied by the Registrar-General, and is included in accordance
with the request contained in the Ministry of Health's Circular
No. 1,417.