View report page

Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Wood Green, N. 22.
July, 1962.
To THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN and COUNCILLORS
of the BOROUGH OP WOOD GREEN.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the annual report for the year
1962.
The year ended sadly with Dr. Harvey's sudden illness in
October which deprived the Borough of his services for the remainder
of the year. Dr. Harvey is still not fit to resume duty and his
absence is felt particularly at this time when his wisdom and
experience would have been so valuable in the planning of the new
Borough. I know that he has the warm good wishes of all members
of the Council.
The vital statistics for 1962 have varied little from those
of last year. The birth rate with 811 live births was 17.07 per
1,000 of population. The death rate was 12.23, slightly higher
than last year s figure of 11.3.
It is very satisfactory to be able to state again this year
that there were no maternal deaths.
The Infantile Mortality rate, i.e. the number of infants who
died during the first year of life per 1,000 live births, rose
from 26.8 to 29. 5, there being 4 more infant deaths this year than
last.
The statistics over the past 4 years show two trends which
appear sufficiently definite to be significant. The birth rate
has risen successively each year from 14.2 in 1959, 15.0 in 1960,
15.7 in 1961 to 17.07 this year. This rising birth-rate is taking
place generally over the whole country. Less satisfactory and a
cause for concern is the trend in the illegitimate birth-rate,
i. e. the number of illegitimate births expressed as a percentage
of the total live births. In the past 2 years this has shown a
3