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41
Deaths
Populations 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 area comparability factor and is based on the last census population
figure. The factor for Greenwich, viz. 1.06, 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 with any
similarly adjusted area.
The net number of Greenwich deaths registered during 1967 was
2,479, of which 1,267 were males and 1,212 females, compared with
last year's total of 2,560. This gives a crude Death Rate for the
Borough of 10.76 per 1,000 of the population, representing a
decrease of 0.33 from that calculated for the previous year. When
the area comparability factor is taken into account the rate is
increased to 11.4 for comparative purposes.
The comparable Death Rates for Greater London and for England
and Wales are 10.9 and 11.2 respectively. Inner London
returned a crude Death Rate of 11.0.
The inset table showing the causes of deaths at all ages has been
supplied by the Registrar-General and is included in accordance
with the Ministry of Health's request.
In the Appendix to the Report will be found a table giving by
districts, the causes of. and ages at death of residents whilst indicating
the numbers actually dying in Public Institutions.
Age Mortality
The age mortality and the distribution of the deaths between the
different quarters of the year are shown by the following table:—