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5
LONDON BOROUGH OF CROYDON
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
AND
PRINCIPAL SCHOOL MEDICAL OFFICER
FOR THE YEAR 1971
To the Chairman and Members of the Health and Public Services Control
Committee.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
The following report for the year 1971 complies with a statutory duty
and provides statistical details of the health aspects of the Committee's
work. I comment on some trends and unusual items.
Statistics
The birth rate showed a further fall. This decline followed the pattern
which began in 1967 and the rate of fall has not varied significantly over
this five year period. [ lt is interesting that the birth rate of the former
County Borough fell in 1933 and 1934 to a record low figure of 13.2 per
1,000, despite the paucity of family planning advice presumably as a reaction
to economic recession. ] The rise in the percentage of illegitimate
births in 1971 may be connected with the fall in the number of marriages.
The death rate for illegitimate infants rose again to nearly three times the
rate for legitimate births. There were no deaths from abortion or childbirth.
There were fewer deaths from lung cancer, but it was still the commonest
site for cancer in men (40% of all cancers).