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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough
of Lewisham.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I submit herewith my report for the health department for the year
1954.
Vital statistics
The Registrar General's estimate of the population in midyear 1954
at 224,200 was 1,600 less than his estimate for midyear 1953. Since
the census the rate of decrease of the population appears to have
accelerated. The prewar estimated population, in June, 1939, was
231,000. The crude birthrate for the year at 14-2 shows a small
decrease of 0-2 from the figure of 14-4 the previous year, and the
adjusted birthrate (allowing for age and sex distribution of the population)
is 0-1 lower at 13-3. The crude death rate at 9-95 shows a fairly
substantial decrease from the 11-1 of the previous year and the
" adjusted" death rate, also 9-95, compares with 10-68 for the
administrative county. The infant mortality rate at 21 was 1 down on
the previous year, the neonatal rate (i.e. under one month of age)
being 3 down, and the one month to one year rate being 2 up. The
stillbirth rate showed a welcome drop to no less than 14, compared with
23, and after the increasing stillbirth rates of recent years this is doubly
pleasing ; it is in fact the lowest on record. The combined stillbirth
and infant death rate (reproductive wastage) therefore goes down
considerably — from 45 to 35 — and equals the low record of 1949.
No maternal deaths occurred during the year and this would appear to
be the first year in the history of the borough council where there has
been no such death (there were three years in the First War where no
records are available). The premature birth rate, i.e. the number of
children weighing 5Jlbs. or less at birth per thousand live births, is not
a very exact figure as a few babies who for one reason or other were
not weighed at birth have been regarded as premature (this is probably
true but not necessarily so). The rate for 1954 at 60 is however
considerably down on the previous year, which again was down on
the year before that, and so this too is a matter for appreciation. The
various comparative figures of general statistics since the beginning
of the century are shown in table 10. It is a matter of interest, though not
one for complacency, that all except two of the 1954 figures there
shown are improvements. The two exceptions are, first, the one month
to one year infant death rate which has been mentioned above, and
secondly, the percentage of inhabitants dying under the age of 65, which
has gone up from 29-5 to 31-5. Comment on this is made later in
the report.
Tuberculosis
The number of new notifications decreased considerably (after two
successive years' increase) and at 256, producing a rate of 1-02 for
pulmonary and 0-12 for other forms, they reached a record low. The
number of deaths from tuberculosis at 38 also showed a considerable