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It is seen from this table that, whilst Edmonton occupies a middle
position as regards the number of deaths from diarrhoea per 1000
of the population, its birth rate is much higher, and its infantile
death rate lower than the same rates of any of the towns with
which it is compared.
Now the great majority of deaths from diarrhsea (about 80 per
cent.) occur among children under one year of age, and, in communities
where there is a large proportion of children of this age
period, in other words, where a high annual birth rate exists, other
things being equal, a greater number of deaths from diarrhcea per
1000 of the population is to be expected. It would, therefore, be a
fairer test of the actual condition of things, in making comparisons,
if the figures were stated as infantile mortality rates, that is, as the
numbers of deaths from diarrhcea occurring among children
under one year of age, per 1000 births. Unfortunately this figure
is not forthcoming for these other districts, and an actual comparison
cannot therefore be made; but it is fairly obvious, from an examination
of their birth rates and infantile mortality rates, that if such a
comparison were possible, this district would almost certainly occupy
a more favourable position on the list.
I give in the next table, a comparison under the same heads,
between this district and neighbouring communities:—