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6
In the Statistical Supplement will be found a chart showing
the proportion of deaths from the principal causes, from which
will be seen that diseases affecting the heart and important
blood vessels come first, with cancer second and lung conditions
now occupying fourth place.
The Registrar General in his statistical survey of England
and Wales for 1950 published during the year states that the
death rate in Greater London is lower even than that of the
countryside. Age for age, for both sexes, mortality in the North
and Wales is higher than in the East or the South of England.
Many reasons for this the Report suggests were greater crowding
of the population in terms of persons per room and possibly the
diminished sunlight and greater atmospheric pollution of the
industrial North. There were probably also socio-economic
causes.
It also appears from the Report that suicide was commonest
in Hampstead with a rate of 287 per million, followed by
Holborn with 270, Burnley with 259 and Westminster with 257.
There were also high rates in the seaside boroughs of Eastbourne,
Bournemouth, Blackpool and Brighton. At the other end of the
scale were Wakefield 33, Cardiff 45, Bermondsey and Hammersmith
50, Plymouth 53, and Wigan 59.
A comparison with 1841-1850 shows that the younger
children have benefited from the decline in mortality. The
death rate of school age girls was only 6% of that 100 years ago,
whilst men aged 65-84 have still 812 of those 100 years back.
(e) Infant Mortality.
The number of deaths of infants under one year of age
during the year was 38, giving an annual mortality rate per 1,000
live births of 21.
(f) Maternal Mortality.
There were three maternal deaths during the year, the same
as in 1953, resulting in a death rate of 1.66 per 1,000 live and
still-births.