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9
Infantile Mortality.
Fifty years ago (in 1900) some 410 infants died before they
reached their first birthday—an infantile mortality rate of 140 per
1,000 live births.
Fifty years later (in 1950) the number of infants in Leyton
who died during their first year was 29—the infantile mortality
rate being 20.04.
During these fifty years the infantile mortality rate has been
reduced from 140 to 20.04—meaning that there has been an annual
saving of 120 infant deaths out of every thousand infants born
alive.
Mortality from Infectious Diseases.
The following figures give some idea of the great reduction
in deaths due to infectious diseases during the last fifty years.
For purpose of comparison I have taken a period of five years at
the end of last century (1896-1900), and compared it with the
five-year period 1946-1950. The average population now is roughly
one-fifth greater than it was fifty years ago; so that the mortality
figures shown for the last five years should be reduced by one-fifth
to give a strictly corrected comparison.
Five-Year Period.
1896—1900 1946—1950
Average Population 88,600 105,372
Total Deaths—of Infants under One Year 1,886 252
Deaths due to:—
Enteric Fever 60 0
Diphtheria 132 2
Scarlet Fever 39 1
Measles 107 4
Whooping Cough 182 8
Diarrhoea and Enteritis 583 22
Tuberculosis of Lungs 425 187
These two factors—the reduction in deaths of infants, and
the fall in deaths due to infectious disease have been responsible
in great measure for the great increase in the expectation of life,
and the consequent fundamental change in the age constitution
of the population.
Fifty years ago the proportion of the population above 65 years
of age was 4.7 per cent.; to-day it is 10.8 per cent.—more than
double. On the other hand, the proportion of the population