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6
SUMMARY OF VITAL STATISTICS
Area 10,927 acres
Population 1971 census 278,735
Population 1971—Registrar General's mid-1971 estimate 280,260
Number of structurally separate dwellings occupied (1961 census) 81,866
Number of private households (1961 census) 97,701
Rateable value (all hereditaments) 1st April, 1971 £20,952,471
Product of a lp rate, financial year 1971/72 (estimated) £203,100
Live births
Number 4,924
Rate per 1,000 population (crude) 17.6 (16.0)
Rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 15.8 (16.0)
Illegitimate live births per cent. of total live births 16.0 (8)
Stillbirths
Number 74
Rate per 1,000 total live births and stillbirths 14.8 (12)
Total live and stillbirths 4,998
Infant deaths (under 1 year) 103
Infant mortality rates
Total infant deaths per 1,000 total live births 20.9 (18)
Legitimate infant deaths per 1,000 legitimate live births 19.6 (17)
Illegitimate infant deaths per 1,000 illegitimate live births 27.9 (24)
Neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 4 weeks per 1,000 total live births) 12.4 (12)
Early neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 1 week per 1,000 total live births) 10.4 (10)
Perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths and deaths under 1 week combined per 1,000 total
live and stillbirths) 25.0 (22)
Maternal mortality (including abortion)
Number of deaths 1
Rate per 1,000 total live and stillbirths 0.20(0.17)
Deaths 2,831
Death-rate per 1,000 population (crude) 10.1 (11.6)
Death-rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 11.1 (11.6)
Deaths from cancer (all forms) 672
Death rate from cancer (all forms) per 1,000 population 2.3
(Figures for England and Wales in brackets)
BIRTHS
In 1971, 4,924 live births were registered (2,485 males and 2,439 females) giving a crude birth
rate of 17.6 per thousand estimated population compared with rates of 19.5 in 1969 and 18.8 in 1970. 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 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 15.8 which is slightly
below the provisional rate for England and Wales which was 16.0 per thousand population.
There were 789 illegitimate live births i.e. 16 per cent of the total live births, a slight increase compared
with last year (15 per cent). The figure for England and Wales was 8 per cent.
STILLBIRTHS
Seventy-four babies were stillborn giving a rate of 14.8 per thousand live and stillbirths, above the
provisional rate for England and Wales which was 12.0.