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The number of deaths, 1,890, is a slight increase on the figure of 1,837
for the previous year. The death rate was 8.5 per 1,000 population
compared with figures of 9.3, 9.0, 8.6, 8.5 and 8.4 for the years since
1944, and with a figure of 11.7 for the country as a whole.
Infant Mortality. The infant mortality rate is the death rate per
1,000 births of infants under one year of age. It has been accepted as a
delicate index not merely of the adequacy or efficiency of those services
dealing particularly with the welfare of the child, but of the social or
sanitary state of the community. The causes of the deaths in the early
days of life are so very different from those which cause the deaths of
those even up to the age of 12 months, that those occurring before the
infants have attained the age of one month are separately classified as
neo-natal deaths, and the number expressed as a rate per 1,000 births is
the neo-natal mortality rate. The main causes of death at this time of
life are congenital malformations, prematurity, birth injuries, asphyxia
and infection. The effects of birth injury and such factors as bring about
the deaths in the early days steadily decline as the child survives, and
infections appear as the main cause of death, being responsible for most of
the losses for the remainder of the year. The dramatic fall in the infant
mortality rate which has taken place in this country during this century
has been brought about chiefly by a reduction in the deaths of those
between the ages of one and 12 months. The death rates amongst those
of these ages were high in places where the housing was poor, where
premises were overcrowded, where sanitation was defective, and particularly
if these factors were associated with maternal ignorance and
neglect.
The local rates each year have been lower than the national rates,
and have declined with the fall of the rates of the country as a whole.
In 1949, 64 (58 legitimate and 6 illegitimate) infants died before
they attained their first birthday, this being an infant mortality rate of
20.7 compared with the national rate of 32. This is the lowest rate for
this district, the previous lowest being the rate of 24.0 in 1947.
Forty-four of the infants failed to survive one month. The neonatal
mortality rate, therefore, was 14.2, being a percentage of the total
rate of 68.
Stillbirths. Apart from the loss of lives of young children, there
is the further loss of those who die before being born.
In this district 66 stillbirths were registered, being a rate of 1,000
population of 0.30, compared with the figure of 0.39 for the country as a
whole.
Deaths of Children of One to Five Years of Age. Ten children
survived their first but did not reach their fifth birthday. Of these, 3
died in their second year, 4 in the third, 2 in the fourth and another in
his fifth year.