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6
CHAPTER I.
VITAL STATISTICS
1. The population of the Borough in mid-1963 was estimated
by the Registrar-General to be 124,610.
The census of April, 1961, reveals a figure of 124,892.
2. In 1963 there were recorded 1,805 live births, giving a crude
birth rate of 14.5 per thousand estimated population. The Registrar
General has provided boroughs with a comparability factor for this
calculation which takes into account the relative proportion of women
of child bearing age in the total community. When this factor of
1.05 is applied the standardised birth rate becomes 15.2, a more
realistic figure, the origin of which, however, must be remembered
when comparing it with past years.
3. The infantile mortality rate of 13.3 compares very favourably
with the national rate of 20.9 per thousand and this is often used as a
pointer to the adequacy of the services provided. This figure would
have seemed quite unattainable a few years ago and indicates the
advances in obstetrics and paediatrics which have become available in
the district in recent years.
4. The number of deaths totalled 1,287, giving a crude death
rate of 10.33 per thousand. The comparability factor when applied
produces a standardised death rate of 11.36, again well below the
national rate.
5. Cancer of the lung and bronchus continues to be by far the
commonest site of fatal malignant disease. During the year there was
a total of 72 deaths (54 male and 18 female) as compared with deaths
from the same cause during the five preceding years :-
Male. Female. Total.
1962 60 9 69
1961 67 13 80
1960 57 12 69
1959 71 11 82
1958 58 7 65
It is sad to see so many adolescents and school children persistently
smoking in the face of all the evidence of the tie-up between
cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and it is to be hoped that parents
will do their utmost to discourage their offspring in this, not only
by their good advice, but by their good example in not smoking
themselves.