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To make an approximate allowance for the way in which the sex and age distribution of
the local population differs from that for England and Wales as a whole, the birth rate is
multiplied by a comparability factor supplied by the Registrar-General. The corrected live
birth rate was 20.47. The corresponding rate for the whole of England and Wales was 18.0;
this was the highest national birth rate since the year 1948 and the rate for Southall was well
above it.
Infant Mortality
Infant mortality i.e. the number of children dying before reaching the age of one year,
fell slightly in 1962. Twenty-four infants died compared with 26 in 1961, giving a rate of 22.54
compared with 26.72 in 1961. Of these 24 deaths, one died at home and twenty three in
hospital. Sixteen infants (seven male and nine female) died within the first four weeks after
birth.
Table IV gives the causes of infant deaths under the age of one year. Graph A on page
10 shows the trend of the infant mortality rate since 1900. The corresponding rate for Middlesex
County was 19.0 and for England and Wales as a whole was 21.4.
Premature Infants
Eighty-nine premature infants were born alive during the year; 83 were born in hospital
and, of these, 75 were surviving at the end of one month; 6 were born at home and all
of these were surviving at the end of one month. There were 10 premature still births, all
occurring in hospital.
The rise in the number of infants born prematurely is out of all proportion to the rise in
the birth rate—in two years this figure has doubled and now accounts for nearly one-tenth
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