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5
SUMMARY OF VITAL STATISTICS
Area 10,927 acres
Population 1961 census 295,893
Population 1969—Registrar General's mid-1969 estimate 281,530
Number of structurally separate dwellings occupied (1961 census) 81,866
Number of private households (1961 census) 97,701
Rateable value (all hereditaments) 1st April, 1969 £20,608,965
Product of a penny rate, financial year 1969/70 (estimated) £81,850
Live births
Number 5,485
Rate per 1,000 population (crude) 19.5
Rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 17.6
Illegitimate live births per cent. of total live births 14.7
Stillbirths
Number 77
Rate per 1,000 total live births and stillbirths 13.8
Total live and stillbirths 5,562
Infant deaths (under 1 year) 105
Infant mortality rates
Total infant deaths per 1,000 total live births 19.1
Legitimate infant deaths per 1,000 legitimate live births 17.7
Illegitimate infant deaths per 1,000 illegitimate live births 27.3
Neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 4 weeks per 1,000 total live births) 12.9
Early neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 1 week per 1,000 total live births) 10.6
Perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths and deaths under 1 week combined per 1,000 total
live and still births) 24.3
Maternal mortality (including abortion)
Number of deaths 4
Rate per 1,000 total live and stillbirths 0.72
Deaths 2,913
Death-rate per 1,000 population (crude) 10.3
Death-rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 11.4
Deaths from cancer (all forms) 674
Death rate from cancer (all forms) per 1,000 population 2.4
BIRTHS
In 1969, 5,485 live births were registered, giving a crude birth rate of 19.5 per thousand estimated
population compared with a rate of 20.1 in 1968. 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 17.6 which is above the provisional rate for England and Wales,
which was 16-3 per thousand population.
There were 807 illegitimate live births, i.e. 14.7 per cent. of total live births, a very slight decrease
compared with last year (14.8 per cent.).
STILLBIRTHS
Seventy-seven babies were stillborn, giving a rate of 13.8 per thousand live and stillbirths, above the
provisional rate for England and Wales which was 13.0.
DEATHS
The total number of deaths was 2,913 giving a crude death rate of 10.3 per thousand population.
When the comparability factor is applied, the standardised rate is 11.4, a little below the provisional rate.