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siderably less than it was for the preceding year. The London deathrate
for 1896 was 18.2.
Comparing the zymotic death-rate the figures stand: —Bow, 3.8;
Poplar District, 3.7; Mile End Old Town, 3.61; Limehouse, 3.99;
St. George's-in-the-East, 3.26; Whitechapel, 2.62; Bethnal Green,
4.25; and Shoreditch, 4.31. London's zymotic death-rate during the
same period was 3.11.
THE
POPULATION.
The estimated population for the year was 41,747. The fact that
a census was taken for parochial purposes in March enables a more
correct estimate to be made than is usual. A decennial
census leaves very much to be desired, as I explained at
length in my last Annnal Report. In March, 1896, the
parochial census was taken with the result that the population of
Bow was returned at 41,687. Allowing for the average natural
increment, the estimated population of 41,747 shows an addition to
the population of Bow in 1896 of 1,369 persons beyond the estimated
population of 1891, and a decrease of 103 on the estimated population
of 1895, thus the method for estimating the population of
London directed by the Registrar-General for adoption by Medical
Officers of Health is shown to be inaccurate, at any rate in so far as
regards Bow, where nearly all the land has been utilised for building
purposes that is available. As was pointed out on this subject in my
last Report, as a matter of accuracy the population should have been
given at 41,774, or 87 more than the census taken a few months
later revealed was actually the case. With the apparent decline in
the rate of increase in the population of such districts as Bow a
different method of estimating the population will have to be adopted,
or else a census will have to be taken more often than once in every
ten years, though it is to be remembered that the difference of a few
scores, or even hundreds, only affects the vital statistics so far as
death, birth, and disease rates are concerned by an inappreciable
fraction.