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ANALYSIS OF VITAL STATISTICS
1. The estimated population for 1954 is 40,730 which shows a
slight increase of 60 on 1953 figures. The increase brings the
population to approximately the same as it was in 1952.
2. The number of live births during the year shows a slight
increase on 1953. The birth rate is 12.9 which is 0.2 higher than
the previous year again reflecting the increase in the number of
births.
3. The infantile mortality rate is 10.5 which is approximately
half that of 1953. This figure is apparently very low but on comparing
with previous years it is noted that these low figures occur
from time to time and probably have no real significance.
The death rate for illegitimate infants for the year is zero and
whilst last year it was an exceptionally high figure of 111.1 this
is again a case in which the very small numbers of illegitimate
infants produce false statistics.
4. The death rate for 1954 is 10.1 which is an increase of 1.0
over 1953. The number of deaths was 389 as compared with
351 in the previous year.
5. The number of deaths from Cancer during the year was 76.
This is approximately the same as the previous year. The increase
in the number of deaths is evenly spread out over the various
causes.
6. There were 30 new cases of Tuberculosis during the year as
against 43 in 1943. The number of deaths from Tuberculosis were
6 which is a slight decrease on 1953.
7. There were only 508 cases notified of infectious diseases
during the year as compared with 1.528 cases in 1953. In 1952
there were 558 cases which is apparently a more normal figure.
Of the cases of infectious diseases notified during 1954 414 were
either Chicken Pox or Whooping Cough and the prevalence of
these diseases is clearly shown in Table 1 as being between 2 and
10 years; over 10 years the incidence of infection becomes rapidly
less.
The figure of 15 cases of Measles during the year is obviously
incorrect but the table only shows the number of cases which have
been notified. Obviously by no means can all the cases of measles
have been notified.
The Sanitary Inspectors visit all cases of Scarlet Fever. Food
Poisoning and Dysentery and details of case history are obtained.
In the cases of Food Poisoning and Dysentery any samples of food
stuffs or specimens which are necessary for the tracing of the outbreak
are obtained at the same time as the visit made by the
Sanitary Inspector.
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