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Reproductive Wastage—A sum total of 104 stillbirths and
infantile deaths gives a Reproductive Wastage Rate of 30.15 per
1,000 total births, a decrease of 4.60 from that calculated for the
previous year. Figures for England and Wales and Greater London
are 32.6 and 32.1 respectively.
Actual infant deaths recorded during the year were 59 (14 less
than last year) comprising 36 males and 23 females of which 55
occurred in hospital and 4 at home. The following table shows the
causes of and ages at death:
REMARKS ON OTHER VARIOUS DEATH CAUSES
For international statistical comparability certain basic requirements
are considered indispensable and these are covered in the
articles of the Nomenclature Regulations, 1967, adopted by the
Twentieth World Health Assembly on 22nd May, 1967.
Following the Nineteenth World Health Assembly in 1966 which,
by resolution, adopted the Eighth Revision and Amendment of
the International Classification of Diseases to come into effect as
from 1st January, 1968, the Registrar General, from this date, has
brought into use a new classification with regard to records and
statistics. Although these new catagories are broadly equivalent to
the old, inevitably occasional difficulties will be met in reconciling
present with previous statistics and exact comparability cannot be
assumed.
Classification of Deaths—It should be borne in mind that the
statistical data compiled locally relating to cause of death may not
entirely agree with the figures furnished to Local Authorities by the
Registrar-General. Classification of the cause of death is taken
from one or more causes as stated on the medical certificate in
accordance with the rules generally adopted throughout England
and Wales.
The Registrar-General is able, in cases where it is deemed desirable,
to obtain fuller information from the certifying practitioner.
This enables his department to modify the original classification—
hence the possibilities of discrepancies in some cases between the
figures prepared locally and those referred by the RegistrarGeneral.
General
Total deaths in the country rose by 6.3% during the year but
Greenwich, although following this trend, recorded a lesser increase
of 3.2%.
A decrease in infant mortality and a reduction in deaths from
cancer, motor vehicle accidents and tuberculosis were more than