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The number of live births registered in 1968 (2,137 male
and 1,933 female) was only 35 fewer than the figure for the
figure for the previous year which meant that the birth rate fell
by 0.1 per thousand population to a figure of 14.8. The decrease
between 1966 and 1967 was 0.6 per thousand. These changes
are similar to the national figures: the rate for England and
Wales in 1968 was 16.9, a fall of 0.3 on the previous year and
0.8 on the year before that.
In 1967 I reported that the infant death rates had shown an
increase after steadily decreasing for many years. It was hoped
that this was an occasional variation which occurs when dealing
with a relatively small number of deaths, but although the
peri-natal and early neo-natal rates for 1968 show a decrease, the
infant mortality rate again increased by 2.1. The actual numbers
were: deaths of infants within the first four weeks of life — 51 in
1963 compared with 50 in 1967; deaths of infants between 4 weeks
and 1 year of age — 30 in 1968 compared with 23 in 1967. The
increase appears to be largely attributable to a greater number
of deaths from respiratory infections: pneumonia, bronchitis
etc.
The overall death rate, of 10.5 shows an increase of 0.2
over the rate for 1967, but the latter figure is considerably less
than the rates for 1966 and 1967 and the current figure is still
well under the rate for England and Wales of 11.9.
The eighth revision of the international classification
of causes of death has been used by the Registrar General to
classify the deaths which occurred in 1968. Deaths are now
classified under 65 headings instead of the 36 headings which
had been used for a number of years. As a result of this change,
detailed comparisons with previous years are difficult. However,
it is quite clear that the greatest number of deaths during the
year were due to diseases of the heart (639 compared with 562
in 1967). The next highest figure is deaths from cancer. By far
the commonest cancer was again that of the lung (139 deaths)
which is associated with the smoking of cigarettes. However, the
number of deaths from this condition was virtually the same as
the previous year.
It is pleasing to note that for the second consecutive year
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