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5
SUMMARY OF VITAL STATISTICS
Area 10,927 acres
Population 1961 census 295,893
Population 1968—Registrar General's mid-1968 estimate 284,460
Number of structurally separate dwellings occupied (1961 census) 81,866
Number of private households (1961 census) 97,701
Rateable value (all hereditaments) 1st April, 1968 £20,363,298
Product of a penny rate, financial year 1968/69 (estimated) £81,800
Live births
Number 5,720
Rate per 1,000 population (crude) 20.1
Rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 18.1
Illegitimate live births per cent. of total live births 14.8
Stillbirths
Number 86
Rate per 1,000 total live births and stillbirths 14.8
Total live and stillbirths 5,806
Infant deaths (under 1 year) 134
Infant mortality rates
Total infant deaths per 1,000 total live births 23.4
Legitimate infant deaths per 1,000 legitimate live births 21.9
Illegitimate infant deaths per 1,000 illegitimate five births 31.8
Neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 4 weeks per 1,000 total live births) 16.9
Early neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 1 week per 1,000 total live births) 14.9
Perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths and deaths under 1 week combined per 1,000 total
live and still births) 29.5
Maternal mortality (including abortion)
Number of deaths 2
Rate per 1,000 total live and stillbirths 0.34
Deaths 2,917
Death-rate per 1,000 population (crude) 10.2
Death-rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 11.5
Deaths from cancer (all forms) 620
Death rate from cancer (all forms)) per 1,000 population 2.2
BIRTHS
In 1968, 5,720 live births were registered, giving a crude birth rate of 20.1 per thousand estimated
population compared with a rate of 20.8 in 1967. The Registrar General provides area comparability factors
for use with crude birth and death rates which make 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. When the local crude rates
are multiplied by the comparability factor, they are comparable with the rates for England and Wales or with
the corresponding adjusted rate for any other area. When the birth factor of 0.90 is applied to the crude birth
rate, the standardised rate is 18.1 which is above the provisional rate for England and Wales, which was 16.9
per thousand population.
There were 849 illegitimate live births, i.e. 14.8 per cent. of total live births, a slight increase compared
with last year (14.6 per cent.).
STILLBIRTHS
Eighty-six babies were stillborn, giving a rate of 14.8 per thousand live and stillbirths, above the
provisional rate for England and Wales which was 14.0.
DEATHS
The total number of deaths was 2,917 giving a crude death rate of 10.2 per thousand population.
When the comparability factor is applied, the standardised rate is 11.5, a little below the provisional rate for
England and Wales which was 11.9. The number of deaths from all causes is shown in Table 1. The main
causes of death and rates per thousand population are shown in Table 2. Heart disease continues to be the