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5
SUMMARY OF VITAL STATISTICS
Area 10,927 scres
Population 1971 census 280,655
Population 1972—Registrar General's mid-1972 estimate 275,570
Number of structurally separate dwellings occupied (1971 census) 86,335
Number of private households (1971 census) 98,220
Rateable value (all hereditaments) 1st April, 1972 £21,240,124
Product of a lp rate, financial year 1972/73 (estimated) £204,000
Live births
Number 4,490
Rate per 1,000 population (crude) 16.3 (14.8)
Rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 14.7 (14.8)
Illegitimate live births per cent. of total live births 15.3 (9.0)
Stillbirths
Number 48
Rate per 1,000 total live births and stillbirths 10.6 (12)
Total live and stillbirths 4,538
Infant deaths (under 1 year) 81
Infant mortality rates
Total infant deaths per 1,000 total live births 18.0 (17)
Legitimate infant deaths per 1,000 legitimate live births 16.8 (17)
Illegitimate infant deaths per 1,000 illegitimate live births 24.8 (21)
Neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 4 weeks per 1,000 total live births) 12.5 (12)
Early neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under 1 week per 1,000 total live births) 10.5 (10)
Perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths and deaths under 1 week combined per 1,000 total
live and stillbirths) 20.9 (22)
Maternal mortality (including abortion)
Number of deaths Nil
Rate per 1,000 total live and stillbirths — (0.15)
Deaths 2,759
Death-rate per 1,000 population (crude) 10.0 (12.1)
Death-rate per 1,000 population (adjusted) 11.2 (12.1)
Deaths from cancer (all forms) 651
Death-rate from cancer (all forms) per 1,000 population 2.4
(Figures for England and Wales in brackets)
BIRTHS
In 1972, 4,490 live births were registered (2,207 males and 2,283 females) giving a crude birth rate
of 16.3 per thousand estimated population compared with rates of 18.8 in 1970 and 17.6 in 1971. 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 rate, the standardised rate is 14.7 which is very slightly below the provisional
rate for England and Wales which was 14.8 per thousand population.
There were 685 illegitimate live births, i.e. 15.3 per cent of the total live births, a slight decrease
compared with last year (16.0 per cent). The figure for England and Wales was 9 per cent.
STILLBIRTHS
Forty-eight babies were stillborn giving a rate of 10.6 per thousand live and stillbirths, below the
provisional rate for England and Wales which was 12.0.