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9
(a) Vital Statistics.
POPULATION.
The Registrar-General's estimate of the population of the
Borough as now constituted and to the middle of 1934 is 62,926,
as against his provisional estimate supplied earlier in the year
of 63,670. This final estimate actually shows a slight decrease,
viz., 44, when compared with the estimate for 1933 and is the
result of the adjustment of the Borough boundaries on April
1st, 1934.
BIRTHS.
The total number of live births during the year properly
belonging to this area was 784, 431 males and 353 females. In
addition there were 36 stillbirths registered.
This number of live births, viz., 784, shows a decrease of
59 from the previous year and is equivalent to an annual Birth
Rate of 12.48 per 1,000 of the population as compared with
13.39 for 1933 and 14.8 for the whole of England and Wales.
Of the total births registered, 29 live births and one
stillbirth were illegitimate.
DEATHS.
The Registrar-General's Annual Returns show that 700
residents of the Borough died during the year, this figure of
course including those residents who died outside the area, and
is equivalent to a Recorded Death Rate of 11.15 per 1,000 of
the population, using the working population figure of 62,777
as supplied by the Registrar-General for the purpose of
calculating this rate.
In a memorandum accompanying the Annual Returns, the
Registrar-General points out that this rate is unsuitable for
purposes of comparison with other areas by reason of the fact
that the populations of all areas are not similarly constituted
as regards the proportions of their sex and age group
components. Consequently he has supplied a correction or
adjusting factor to all areas with instructions that the Recorded
Death Rate should be multiplied by the factor supplied to
ascertain what is known as the Corrected Death Rate. The
object of this is to provide a true mortality index for comparison
purposes, eliminating variations in mortality which arise as the
result of differences in the age and sex group components of
various populations.