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II
Vital Statistics
In Southwark, the natural increase in population, that is the
excess of births, over deaths, is usually of the order of 400 each
year and 1961 was no exception. During the last decade this natural
increase has been offset by a much larger decrease due to emigration,
the rate of which reached a peak some five or six years ago
and now shows signs of diminishing. Even so, the Registrar General's
estimate of the population as at mid-1961 showed a decrease of some
two and a half thousand.
The live births were just short of 1,700 giving a crude birth
rate of 19.6 per thousand of the population. For the purposes of
comparison this figure must be multiplied by a comparability factor
giving a birth rate of 17. 8 which is the highest rate in Southwark
since 1952 and slightly higher than that for England and Wales. An
increase in the still birth rate was offset by a reduction in the
infant death rate which was the lowest for five years. Of the 37
infant deaths, twenty occurred during the first four weeks of life
giving a neo-natal mortality rate of 11.8 per 1,000 live births as
compared with 15.5 the corresponding figure for England and Wales.
Two maternal deaths occurred during the year, a maternal mortality
rate of 1.1 per thousand live and still births. The crude death rate
per thousand population was 14.4 but this figure after adjustment
falls to 12, which is exactly similar to the death rate experienced
by the country as a whole, and is the same as that in Southwark
during 1960.
Once more, the principal causes of death were diseases of the
heart and circulatory system, followed by malignant diseases and
diseases of the respiratory system. Nine persons died from pulmonary
tuberculosis and sixty-eight from cancer of the lung.
Infectious Disease
The infectious disease record in Southwark during the year was,
apart from measles, relatively good. Measles was epidemic in 1961,
1,671 cases being notified as compared with 322 during the previous
year. The number of confirmed cases of dysentery was less than half
that of 1960. Even this number of cases is too high and control
measures made demands on both the Public Health Inspectors and the
clerical staff. Although not all the cases notified occurred in
private households, a further reduction in the incidence of this
condition can be looked for as more adequate sanitary facilities
are provided in homes, and in schools, and as more attention is
paid to the washing of hands particularly after attendance at the
toilet and before meals.