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4
Comparability Factors
To enable local vital statistics to be compared with other districts or with national figures
the Registrar General issues comparability factors for correcting crude birth and death rates.
These factors 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. The death rate comparability
factor has been adjusted specifically to take account of the presence of residential institutions
in the area.
To compare the crude birth and death rates for Tottenham with the national rates,
Tottenham's figures must first be multiplied by the appropriate comparability factor 0.99 for
births and 1.05 for deaths.
Birth-rate
There has been a steady recovery in the birth-rate during the past 5 years. In 1960 it
reached 16.75 per 1,000 population, the highest since 1948. The highest post-war rate was in
1947 - 21.57 and the lowest 12.37 in 1954.
Illegitimate Births
There was again a marked increase in the percentage of illegitimate births. Of the babies
born in Tottenham in 1960, 8.5% or one in twelve, was illegitimate compared with the previous
highest figure in 1959 which was 7.6%. Between the two world wars the rate never exceeded
4.6% and in only 5 years was 4.0% exceeded.
Infantile Deaths
A total of 45 deaths under 1 year of age is recorded by the Registrar General, giving a rate
of 23.36 per thousand live births. Twenty-nine of the deaths occurred in the first week of life
and a further 7 occurred in the first four weeks.
Cancer Deaths
The incidence of lung cancer gives no cause for com placency. The association between
the regular inhalation of smoke - chiefly cigarette smoke - and the development of lung cancer
some years later is no longer disputed in medical circles. The evidence has been collected
many times over in several countries before and since the last war.
The response of the public to this unpopular idea has been discouraging, since there has
been no lessening of the consumption of tobacco, and the sales propaganda of the tobacco
companies has become more streamlined and extensive than ever before.