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SECTION 8
STATISTICAL TABLES
Since before the first Census Act in the year 1800 the collection of
information and its statistical presentation has been suspect and subject
to much criticism. The scientific study of health and disease, however,
demands research and the careful examination of vital statistics. These
statistics, prepared centrally by the Registrar General largely from
material supplied from local sources, as well as by the local authorities
themselves, have often been the starting point in advances made in preventive
and curative medicine and they will continue to provide basic
material for the study of the social life of the people.
The Medical Officer of Health is required to report on the statistics
of births, deaths, population changes and the incidence of disease in his
district. Births are notified to the Local Health Authority within 36 hours
and registered by the Registrar of Births within 6 weeks and a return of
all births is supplied weekly to the Medical Officer of Health. Deaths
must be registered within 5 days and the registrar notifies the Medical
Officer of Health weekly of all deaths in the district. These have to be
adjusted for inward and outward transfers and classified according to age
into one of the 50 groups of causes of deaths set out in the International
Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death.
To enable comparison between districts with unequal populations,
rates (usually rates per 1,000) are calculated from the numbers of births,
deaths, etc., and so that comparison may be made between the rates of
districts with differing population structures, comparability factors are
calculated for each district. These relate the figures in each district to a
standard population and accurate comparison of the various rates may
then be made. The area comparability factors for Hornsey for 1950 are
Births 0.89 and Deaths 0.92 and the rates after multiplication by this
factor become 12.7 and 10.1 respectively.
Deaths of babies under one year (infantile mortality) and deaths of
babies under one month (neo-natal mortality) have shown a steady decrease
since the beginning of the century from 154 per 1,000 live births in 1900
to 29.8 in 1950.
The infantile mortality rate is generally accepted as the most sensitive
guide to the environmental and economic conditions of a community and
although it is lower than was thought possible only a few years ago there
is still room for improvement as it is higher than the rates in some of the
Scandinavian countries.
The increase in expectation of life since 1841 is such that boys born
in that year had an expectation of life of 40 years and girls 42 years. By
1948 these had increased to 66 and 71 years.
The statistical tables have not been relegated to the end of the report
but have been collected together for easy reference.
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