View report page

24
1907]
DEATHS.
There were 5,079 deaths registered in the borough, as compared with
an average, corrected for the increase of the population, of 5,552, or a decrease
of 473. This is a very small return, as may be judged by the death-rate, which
was 14.63 per 1,000 inhabitants. It must be considered highly satisfactory,
and all the more so because this is the third occasion in successive
years that the death-toll has been below 15.0 per 1,000 of the population.
Thus in 1905 it was 14.44, in 1906 14.64, and 1907 14.63. In 1903 also the
rate was only 14-27 per 1,000, while in 1904, although slightly higher, it was
still low, being only 15.35. Any community, even a very small one, might well
be proud of such a succession of low mortality returns, and, therefore, it is a
matter of supreme satisfaction to find that the whilom "Merry" Islington is
to-day essentially a "healthy" Islington, and if health brings happiness, as it
ought to do, then, indeed, the borough may well retain its happy and ancient
title.
In the fiftieth annual report of the Medical Officer of Health, a table was
given which showed the death-rate for each year since 1887, when the
compulsory registration of deaths came into force, which the student of statistics
will find interesting, but which is too long to reproduce. A digest of it
in quinquennial periods has, however, been made, and is here set out.