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THE HEALTH OF BARKING
SECTION A
STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITION^ OF THE AREA.
Population.
The Registrar-General gives the estimated population of Barking for mid-year
1947 as 77,660.
Birth Rate.
The birth rate in Barking over the last few years has increased—the same is
true in the country as a whole and the same was true, of course, after the Great
War This is not only due to the fact there have been more marriages but that the
people getting married have been younger than in pre-war days. This is a good
thing, fo; it means that families will be larger ; there can be no doubt there have been
too nmv' only children.'
a ing 1947,1,850 live births were registered, i.e., 23.8 per thousand population
whic is even higher than it was in 1946, when this figure was 20.6.
Deaths.
The chief causes of death are shown in Appendix A, Table I.
Cancer as a cause of death is second only to heart disease. More people living
longer and better diagnosis no doubt account for some of the rise which has occurred
in the cancer rate over recent years but it is not enough to explain the whole of the
problem Early diagnosis is essential and something must be done to educate the
people to overcome their natural fear of knowing the worst and consulting a doctor
so soon as possible.
Maternal Mortality.
I particularly difficult this year to talk about maternal mortality because
officially we have no death whatsoever, whereas, of course, friends and relatives of
a cert ragic case know in fact one woman did die during the year.
The special circumstances in which the death is not recorded during the year
is thai the are was an associated condition which meant that certain investigations
had to be indertaken before it was possible for the Coroner to close the case; so
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