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9
DEATHS AND DEATH RATES.
Deaths to the number of 1,635 were registered during the year. This figure is
inclusive of persons who, though normally resident in the Borough, died in institutions,
etc., outside, but exclusive of persons who, though they died in St. Marylebone, were
ordinarily resident in other districts.
The death rate (corrected) per 1,000 was 14'8. By a "corrected" death rate is
meant one which has been treated in such a way, raised or lowered in a certain ratio,
as to be comparable with the death rates, similarly treated, of other districts.
That " correction " is necessary is due to the fact that differences in death rates
in various areas are not entirely dependent upon the sanitary conditions existing in
these areas, but also on the constitution (age and sex) of the population. A population
consisting of aged persons would show more deaths than one consisting entirely of
young and vigorous adults : a population made up of a large number of males and a
small number of females has more deaths and a higher death rate than one in which
the females outnumber the males. The death rates of such populations are not
comparable the one with the other nor with those of populations differently constituted.
To overcome this difficulty each year the Registrar-General issues a " factor for
correction " for each district which represents the number of times which the actual
death rate of each must be raised in order to permit of its examination side by side
with the rates in other districts.
The " factor for correction," called shortly the " factor," in the case of St.
Marylebone is 1 0652, and the corrected death rate is obtained by multiplying with
this figure the number of deaths per 1,000, calculated from the total deaths and the
population, estimated to the middle of 1912.
The number of deaths in 1911 was 1,818, and the death rate 16.3. As was
shown in the report for that year these figures were, for certain reasons, climatic and
other, abnormally high.
In 1910, the year in which the actual number of deaths was the lowest recorded
and the death rate per 1,000 also the lowest, the figures were 1,607 and 13.3. With
these, the results obtained in 1912 compare favourably and cannot be regarded as
unsatisfactory.

District Births and Deaths for the 52 weeks ended 31st December are given in
the following table (Table I). A further table giving the vital statistics of separate
localities for 1911 and the ten preceding years, will be found amongst the Local
Government Board Tables on page 104.