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The improved state of the District is obvious. Last year 44.9
per cent. of the deaths occurred under the age of 5 years; during
the year we are now considering only 41 per cent. died under that
age. At the other end of life you will also notice that in 1887
17.4 per cent. of the total deaths took place at over 60 years of
age; and in 1888, 21.7 per cent. reached that limit. I have reverted
in detail to this branch of the subject in the article upon "Infant
Mortality.'' Those who survived to beyond 80 years of age
numbered 24 women and 21 men. Of these 4 were nonogenarians.
Our Jewish residents carried away the palm for longevity. These
aged persons were distributed amongst the several Sub-DistriCts
as follows:—
15 belonged to the Spitalfields Sub-District;.
10 ,, Mile End New Town Sub-DistriCt.
16 ,, Whitechapel Church ,,
3 „ Aldgate „
1 ,, Goodman's Fields ,,
The registered causes of death indicate that 20 of them
succumbed to disease—chiefly of the chest or nervous system—
and 25 died from "old age."
Analysis of the Cause of Death of the 1574 Residents
who Died during the Year 1888.
I have, as heretofore, arranged the District deaths in the same
manner as that adopted by the Registrar-General, for the deaths
occurring throughout the entire Metropolis; thus by consulting
together Table M* and N†, the exact value of the figures which
apply to the Whitechapel District becomes apparent. This result
is summarised in Table I‡, wherein is set out in adjoining columns
the per centage of deaths for each separate class of disease, to the
total deaths, as well for the whole of London, as for the District
with which we are especially concerned. And please note the
initial and most important class—a class of disease essentially
within the power of sanitary bodies to control—zymotic diseases.
Here the Whitechapel District shows up remarkably well, and
observe, that whilst both the Metropolis as a whole and Whitechapel
exhibit an improvement compared with the preceding year,
the diminished rate for London is less than 2 per cent. and in
Whitechapel it is nearly 3 per cent. In comparing the relative
per centages of deaths in the other classes of disease, one is struck
* Page 23.
†Page 24.
‡Page 22.