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8
of these areas the average death rate of the past three years was no
less than 40 per thousand. To this matter I shall refer later on
when speaking of our proceedings under the Housing of the Working
Classes Act.
CORRECTION FOR AGE AND SEX
DISTRIBUTION.
A district like Bethnal Green, which contains a larger than
average proportion of young adults will necessarily show a lower
death rate than one in which the average distribution prevails. A
like observation applies to the proportions of the sexes, as the death
rate among males is higher than among females at all ages.
The Registrar General has prepared and published in his annual
summary for 1896, a series of factors for correcting the death rates
of all London districts for varying age and sex distribution, taking
England and Wales as unity. The opportunity is thus given for
obtaining the true comparative mortality of any district, by multiplying
its crude death rate by the proper factor.
I extract the following table from Mr. Shirley Murphy's last
published annual report:—
* Note, the three years referred to are 1864, 5, 6. See page 69.