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14
I explained in a previous report how the age and sex distribution
of the population varied in different districts. The
tendency to death varies at different ages, and in both sexes,
therefore if a fair comparison of the death rates of two districts
is to be made, due allowance must be made for any
difference in the composition of the populations, orpon the
basis of the most recent Census the Registrar-General makes
a correcting "factor" for each district. If the age and sex
distribution is the same as that of the whole of England and
Wales combined, this factor is 1, and is lower or higher in
inverse ratio to the degree of vulnerability of the population
of each district. The crude death-rate is multiplied by this
factor, and the "corrected" death-rate' thus obtained. The
factor for Finchley was 1.05 on the basis of the 1901 Census,
but the distribution of the ages and sexee in Finchley is now
more approximate to the average and the factor calculated on
the 1911 census is 1.016. Flinchley's crude death-rate is
9.24, and the corrected death-rate is 9.38; which means that
out of every 1,000 of the population 9.24 deaths actually
occurred, and that if the population had had the same age
and sex distribution as the whole of England and Wales combined,
9.38 deaths ought to have occurred, even under the
conditions which prevailed in Finchley.

Table III. on page 19 gives the causes and number of
deaths at each age period. Compared with last year, the
deaths in the first two years of life were the same, but there
were more in the total number. 27.1 per cent. of the total
number of deaths occurred after the age of 65 years, as compared
with 39.0 in 1913.