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3
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
TOWN HALL, HACKNEY, E.8.
August, 1960,
To His Worship the Mayor and to the Aldermen and
Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting my Annual Report on the health and sanitary
circumstances of the Borough for the year 1959 This report is the eighth
which I have had the honour to submit and is the one hundred and fourth report
in the series.
Statistics. The Registrar General estimated the midyear population of the
Borough to be 163,200 persons, 200 less than in the previous year; there
would now appear to be an arrest in the decline in the population which has
been evident for some years past. There were 970 male deaths and 939 female
deaths a total of 1,909 deaths from all causes, as compared with the previous
year's total of 1,791. The crude death rate per thousand of the population
was 11.7, whilst the corresponding rate for England and Wales was 11.6, The
corrected Hackney death rate after the application of the "area comparability"
factor of 1.08 was 12.63. This factor takes account of the age and sex
distribution of the population, and the corrected rate is, therefore, the more
accurate one for comparison with other areas.
Live Births. The total number of live births was 3,153 (2,787 in 1958),
giving a birth rate of 19,32 per thousand of the population as compared with
a rate of 16, 5 for England and Wales; the corrected birth rate for Hackney
after applying the appropriate "area comparability" factor of 0.93 was 17.97,
as compared with a corrected rate of 15.86 for 1958 The number of deaths
of infants under one year was 65 (56 in 1958), giving an infantile mortality
rate per thousand live births of 20.61 (20.09 in 1958); the comparable rate
for England and Wales was 22.2.
It is with very real regret I have to record four deaths of mothers from
causes associated with pregnancy and child birth, resulting in a maternal
mortality rate of 1.24 for the Borough, as compared with a rate of 0.38 for
England and Wales.
Malignant disease. Malignant disease in all sites resulted in 394 deaths
as against 357 in the previous year, giving a death rate from cancer of 2.41
per thousand of the population, as compared with a rate of 2. 14 for England
and Wales.
Malignant disease of the lung and bronchus was responsible for 100 deaths,
resulting in a rate of 0.61 per thousand of the population for Hackney, against
a rate of 0.64 for the County of London, and 0.46 for England and Wales
Accidental deaths. Motor vehicle accidents were responsible for 19 deaths,
including six persons aged 65 years and over, and two children under 5
years Accidents from all other causes also accounted for nineteen deaths,
and of these 17 occurred in the home.