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10
The Birth-rate for the year is 0.4 per 1,000 greater than
the rate for the previous year which was 14.7.
The Birth-rate in London on the estimated population,
i.e., 4,141,100, was equal to an annual rate of 13.6 births
per 1,000 persons living.
There has been a considerable increase in the number
of births notified under the Notification of Births Act, i.e.,
2,584. This is due to the increase in the accommodation
provided at the Hammersmith Hospital. As a result the
number of births registered in the Borough was 2,266 as
against 1,774 in the previous year.
This increase means additional work in the department
both in respect to records, transferring information to other
districts, &c.
Deaths.—During the year 1,399 deaths were registered
in the Borough, as compared with 1,347 in the previous
year. Adding 609 deaths of residents of this Borough
which occurred in general hospitals and other public institutions,
and 30 deaths of residents transferred by the
Registrar-General as having occurred in various parts of
England, and deducting 427 deaths of non-residents and
14 transferable deaths which occurred in the Borough, the
corrected number of deaths of residents was 1,597 (806
males, 791 females).
On the estimated population, i.e., 127,700, the corrected
number of deaths of residents was equal to an annual
rate of 12.5 deaths per 1,000 persons living.
Populations of all areas are not similarly constituted as
regards the proportions of their sex and age group components,
and their crude death-rates fail as true comparative
mortality indexes in that their variations are not due to
mortality alone but arise also from differences in the population
constitution, the two elements being combined in
indistinguishable proportions.
An adjusting factor has been supplied by the RegistrarGeneral,
and this when applied to the Hammersmith deathrate
gives a rate of 12.9, a figure which is directly comparable
with the contemporaneous crude death-rate for the