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19
(5) DEATHS.
(a) General.—There were 290 deaths registered in
Barking in 1938. Of these 9 were deaths of nonresidents.
Barking residents to the number of 267 died
elsewhere during the year. Including the latter and
excluding the deaths of visitors, the net number of
deaths was as follows:—
Males. Females. Total.
272 276 548
The death rate for 1938 was 7.1 per 1,000, compared
with 7.8 in 1937, 11.6 for England and Wales, 11.7 for
the hundred and twenty-six County Boroughs and
Great Towns, including London, 11.0 for the one
hundred and forty-eight Smaller Towns, and 11.4 for
London.
The above rate is commonly spoken of as “the crude
death rate.” It is of little use for comparative purposes.
Some towns inevitably have a high percentage of
elderly people, and here of course the crude death rate
is bound to be high, whilst in other towns there is a
gradual exodus of people as they get towards middle
age, and this factor tends to reduce the crude death
rate.
It is a matter of satisfaction that the death rate in
Barking has fallen to a new low level of 7.1 per
thousand population.