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15
A comparison of the death-rate of Acton with that of the 96
large towns shows that Acton occupies the 16th place in the list;
that is, 15 of the large towns had a lower death-rate than Acton,
and 80 had a higher one.
The death-rate is .7 higher than that of 1912, and .7 per 1,000
lower than the quinquennial average 1908-1912.
The diseases which caused the most marked increase in the
number of deaths were Measles, Phthisis or Pulmonary Tuberc
ulosis, Organic Heart Disease, and Diarrhoea.
The ages at death last year were as follows:—
Under 1 year. 1-2. 2-5. 5-15. 15-25. 25-45. 45-65. Over 65.
127 56 33 26 26 99 156 170
Compared with 1912 there was a higher rate in the age periods
under 1 year, 1-2 years, 25-45 years, 45-65 years, and a lower rate
in the other age periods.
It is difficult to calculate exactly the number of persons living
at each age period An examination of the Census figures shows
that the increase in the population took place fairly uniformly in all
the age periods, and it is natural to assume that the age-distribution
of the increased population since the Census remains fairly
constant. Buc the greatly reduced infantile mortality in the last
two years would affect the age periods under 1 year and 1-2 years,
and raise the numbers in these two age periods out of proportion
to the numbers in the other age-periods. The number of children
living under two years can be fairly accurately computed, as
emigration and immigration do not affect these age-periods to any
considerable extent. The number of children under 1 year can be
estimated by taking the number of births and subtracting the
number of deaths under 1 year. A more accurate method to estimate
the number living at midsummer in any year, is to take the
number of births in the first half of the year under review and the
second half of the preceding year, and subtract the deaths under
1 year which have occurred in the same two half-years. If either
of these two methods had been done for the year 1911, the result
would almost exactly correspond with the figure at the Census