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26
This will become evident if we compare the ages at death with
thosa of say 20 years ago. It would not be fair to compare 1931
with 1911 because 1911 was an abnormally hot year and there was
a very large number of deaths in children from Diarrhoea, but an
average of the 3 years 1910, 1911 and 912 would form the basis
of a better comparison.
Ages at Death—1910, 1911, 1912 and 1931.
Under 1 1-2 2-5 5-15 15-25 25-45 45-65 Over 65 Total.
1910 151 55 18 20 203 176 623
1911 205 67 49 34 28 81 143 170 777
1912 107 38 41 31 30 79 137 177 640
1931 62 11. 9 16 26 78 170 370 742
Twenty years ago 22 per cent. of the deaths were of children
under one year of age, and 40 per cent. of the deaths occurred in
children under 15 years of age. Last year the figures were 8.3 and
13.1 respectively. Some allowance must of course be made for the
lower birth rate and consequently for the higher proportion of
persons living under 15 years of age, but the lowered birth rate had
been in operation then for some time.
Twenty years ago only 25 per cent. of the deaths were in
old people over 65 years of age; last year the percentage was 50.
One half of the deaths ocurred in people over 65 years of age. The
span of life has been and is being lengthened. Death is inevitable,
but it makes a difference whether death comes in the prime of life
or when the body is worn out.
On Table 1 is given the death rate for England and Wales
and the large towns. Our death rate is lower than that of England
and Wales and than that of the large towns, but that is hardly
a fair comparison as the conditions vary so enormously in the different
towns. In the industrial towns of the north of England the
death rate varies from 12 to 15 per 1,000 inhabitants and the high
death rate in these towns naturally raises the general average.
The Registrar General has published the death rate in the
towns in the outer ring of London, and the conditions in these
districts are somewhat similar. The death rates in these towns are
as follows:—