London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Lewisham 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
7
SECTION "A" —VITAL STATISTICS
Area
The Area of the borough is 7,015 acres.
Public open space comprises 652 acres.
Population
Census 1951 (preliminary report) 227,551
The Registrar-General's estimate of the home population at
midyear 1952 was 227,100. (This includes members of the armed
forces stationed in the area).
Rateable value
County of London rateable value of the borough at
April 1, 1952 £1,847,626
Estimated net product of a penny rate, 1952/53 £7,450
Number of separately assessed dwellings at April 1, 1952 60,420*
Births (
| Livebirths | 3,161 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Legitimate | 1,521 | 1,502 | 3,023 |
| Illegitimate | 73 | 65 | 138 |
| Totals | 1,594 | 1,567 | 3,161 |
| Crude birth rate per 1,000 of the estimated population | 13.9 | ||
| Adjusted birth rate for comparative purposes | 13.1† | ||
| Birth rate for England and Wales | 15.3 | ||
| Adjusted birth rate for London Administrative County | 17.6 | ||
Stillbirths
The stillbirths allocated to the borough during the year were 57.
This represents a stillbirth rate per thousand live and stillbirths
of 17.7,
Deaths
The deaths belonging to the borough registered during the year
were 2,580 consisting of 1,364 males and 1,216 females, giving a
crude death rate per thousand of the estimated population of 11.4.
The adjusted† rate works out at 11.6 per thousand of the estimated
population which compares with a rate of 11.3 for England and
Wales and an adjusted rate of 12.6 for the Administrative County
of London.
* The figure given in previous years for the number of separately assessed
dwellings in the borough has been estimated.
† The Registrar-General supplies an area comparability factor (0.94 for birth and
1.02 for death rates) by which the crude rate is to be multiplied to make
allowance for the way in which sex and age distribution of the local population
differs from that for England and Wales as a whole. When the rate has been
so adjusted it can be more accurately compared with the crude rate for
England and Wales or the adjusted rate for any other district.