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13
birth-rate at New Addington, which is twice that of the borough
as a whole, that it contains many young married couples. On the
other hand that the highest death rate is recorded from the
South Ward does not imply that it is the most unhealthy area of
the borough. It has a high proportion of elderly persons.
Deaths
The Registrar General's Table is given in the appendix,
page 97. Comparisons with 1956 show there were again no deaths
from Whooping Oough and 2 from Measles (none in 1956). There
were again no deaths in the Typhoid group and none from Diphtheria.
The deaths from Pulmonary Tuberculosis numbered 29 (1956
26); those from Cancer decreased by 1; those from Pneumonia
decreased by 6 and a decrease of 32 was recorded in those caused
by Bronchitis. There were 33 deaths from Influenza (1956 - 11).
Deaths from suicide show an increase of 13, and motor
vehicle accidents totalled 18 (24 in 1956).
The total number of deaths was 2,952 as compared with 2,977
in 1956.
The percentage of deaths under 1 year of age to the total
deaths was 2.1 per cent.; deaths under 15 years, 3.1 per cent.;
deaths under 65 years, 28.1 per cent.; and deaths over 65
years, 71.9 per cent. The corresponding figures for 1956 were
2.3 per cent., 3.1 per cent., 27.6 per cent., and 72.4 per cent,
respectively.
The Registrar-General has continued to supply a comparability
factor-0.84 by which the crude death-rate must be adjusted
for comparison with other areas of the country as a whole.
It will be observed that this factor is less than unity, so that
the standardised, or corrected death-rate, is less than the
crude death-rate. In other words, Croydon has a greater
"weighting" of elderly persons than the average for the
country.