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PREFACE
TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS OF THE
ROYAL BOROUGH OF KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES.
ANNUAL REPORT. 1949.
Mr, Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the Annual Report for 1949
which is confined to essential matters relating to Public
Health and Social Medicine,,
It is prepared on similar lines to previous reports and
deals with matters within my responsibility,
VITAL STATISTICS.
Population - The Registrar-General's estimate of the
civilian population for 1949 is 40,660, which is the figure
used throughout the report in the calculation of vital
statistics. The total population, including Service
personnels is 41,6800 This figure represents only the
resident night population and does not indicate the very
much higher concentration of day population for business,
education, entertainment and recreation purposes.
Live Births - The number of live births for 1949 is
729s, giving a Birth Rate of 17,96 per 1,000 of the population
compared with 722 births and a rate of 17,73 for 1948 - maintaining
almost the same level of 1948 and lower than the postwar
peak of 1947 when the Birth Rate was 21.3.
Deaths - The number of deaths recorded for 1949 is 500,
giving a Death Rate of 12,32, compared with 455 and a Death
Rate of 11,17 for 1948,
Excess of Births over Deaths - The excess of births over
deaths in 1949 is 229, compared with 267 in 1948,
The Infant Mortality Rate - The number of deaths of infants
under one year of age in 1949 is 15, giving a rate per 1,000
(registered live) births of 20.31, as compared with 17 infant
deaths and a rate of 23.04 in 1948. This is a new record low
level.
The Causes of Death - The main conditions causing death,
as recorded in the table for 1949, are - Heart disease, 147;
cancer, 94; and intra-cranial vascular lesions, 47. The
increase of 26 deaths from these causes accounts for more
than half of the aggregate increase of deaths compared with
1948.
Infectious disease - The number of notifications of
infectious disease in 1949 was 699, as against 487 in 1948,
The increase was due to the higher incidence of measles.
In particular, it is recorded with satisfaction that, in
1949 for the second year in succession, no cases of diphtheria
were notified.