View report page

84
In England and Wales 517,936 deaths were registered
during 1889.
The death-rate was equal to 17.9 per 1,000.
Infantile Mortality.
176 infants died under one year of age, or 14.7 per 1,000
of registered births, and 19.4 per 1,000 of total deaths.
296 children died before they reached 5 years of age ; it
will therefore be seen that the large number of 32.7 percent.
of total deaths occur in the first five years of life.
The infantile mortality shows a further decline in the
rate of the previous year.
The chief causes of death can be seen by consulting Table
III. of the Appendix.
This table shows that 56 of the total deaths under one
year of age were due to zymotic and tubercular diseases, 63
were from local diseases, chiefly affecting the respiratory
organs, 26 from general debility, and 9 from accidental or
wilful causes, 8 of the 9 being from suffocation. It is on the
authority of Dr. Danford Thomas that as many as 200
infants are suffocated annually in the central coroner's
division of Middlesex alone, and that the great majority of
these are overlaid by their parents. Prevention is the best
remedy, and with this object every parent and nurse should
be taught the urgent necessity of allowing infants the comfort
and security of a separate sleeping crib.
Deaths of Old People.
At 65 years and upwards there were 153 deaths against
228, 204 and 159 in the three preceding years, or 16.9 per
cent. on total deaths. 10 of the deaths registered from
old age occurred at 85 years and upwards, and 1 was
returned at the advanced age of 91.