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6
To the Chairman and Members of the
Orpington Urban District Council
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In submitting to you the Annual Report of the Medical
Officer of Health for the year 1952, I have followed very
much on the lines of the previous years and in accordance
with the direction of the Ministry of Health Circular
2/53o Delay in its issue is regrettable but unavoidable
mainly because the Registrar General's statistics were
not received until the end of May. It was not until then
that the work on the report could really begin. It could
not be produced at all without good team work of each
member of the Department throughout each day of the year.
This is the nineteenth report since Orpington became
an Urban District, since which time it has become one of
the important and progressive dormitory towns for London
with a population of 63,670 mid-year 1952. But it is not
upon population that a town can be judged. In considering
its vital statistics one must have in the background a
knowledge of its age distribution and this - in spite of
the census of 1951 - we have not yet received in detail
but we do know that 11% of Orpington population is of the
age group of over 65 years and 25% is of the age group
0-15 years.
The birth rate in 1952 was 14.7 per 1,000 population
and the death rate 8.9 per 1,000 population. The infant
death rate was 18.2 per 1,000 live births and, if still
births are included, it shows the loss of 36 lives in
every 1,000 births. These figures mean little to the
general public but are made significant when compared
with other areas with like population and like age groupingo
It follows that with a high child population and the
absence of killing diseases of childhood, and both of
these conditions apply to Orpington, the death rate of
the population will be low, i.e. 8.9 per 1, 000 population
compared with 11.3 for England and Wales.
It is from the (detailed knowledge of such vital statistics
of a town that one can judge the direction in
which Health is proceeding and to judge what services are
needed to control illness in order to maintain or improve
this Healtho We know that the killing diseases of childhood
have today fortunately a low incidence, seven
children between one year and 15 years dying in 1952. If