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13
Infantile Mortality.
By Rate of Infantile Mortality is understood the ratio
of the annual number of deaths of infants under one year
of age to every thousand births during the same period.
During the year 1907 there were 84 deaths of infants
under one year of age registered in the District, as compared
with 889 births. The proportion which the deaths under
one year of age bear to 1,000 registered births is therefore
94.49. The average for the preceding ten years was 115.28.
The corresponding rate in England and Wales in 1907
was 118, in the 76 Great Towns it was 127, and in the 142
Smaller Towns it was 122.
On comparing the infantile mortality returns of Finchley
in 1906 and 1907 one notes a satisfactory falling off in the
number of deaths during the latter year, amounting to 23.2
per 1,000 births. Very few deaths from diarrhceal diseases
occurred in 1907, and had there been no serious outbreak of
Measles or Whooping Cough the total mortality rate would
have been the lowest recorded in the District, though still
considerably in excess of the low rate which should be attainable.
Intentional neglect appears to be comparatively rare,
but in all efforts to reduce the rate of infantile mortality one
has to contend with much unconscious ignorance on the part
of many parents in regard to the proper feeding and care of
their children. Inadequate housing undoubtedly has an
injurious effect on children's health, but is relatively of
secondary importance.
In the following table the deaths under one year of age
are grouped according to the rateable value of the houses
occupied by the parents. This particular grouping has been
adopted as a means of indicating the effects of " social conditions
"generally, including not only income, house accommodation,
and education, but other dependent conditions.