[Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Reading County Borough.

  • Reading (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Reading County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/88 (page 5)
    OLD COLLEGE BUILDINGS, ST. LAURENCE'S CHURCHYARD, READING, April, 1926. TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS OF THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF READING. I beg to submit the Annual Report on the health and sanitary circum¬ stances of the borough for the year 1925. By the request of the Ministry of Health the report this year should be more comprehensive than formerly and should include a survey of the measure of progress made in the borough during the past five years. For this reason certain matters that are common knowledge locally are included in order that the statement should be as comprehensive as possible though some detail must be sacrificed in its preparation in order that the report should appear as soon as possible after the period to which it relates. Natural and Social Conditions of the Area. The population of the borough estimated at mid-year 1925 was 93,910. A short extract from the report of the 1921 census shews the principal groups of occupations in which the two sexes are employed. It is not considered that the nature of these occupations has any injurious effect on health. Vital Statistics. The birth rate for the year was 16-07. Except for the two years succeeding the war, the birth rate has declined practically without intermission since 1874, the earliest year for which we have accurate records. The rate for 1925 is the lowest recorded. The crude death rate for the year was 11.12, a slightly higher figure than that of last year. If the rate is corrected for the age and sex distribution of the population the standardized death rate becomes 9-68, a much lower rate than that of other large towns and that of the country as a whole. As mentioned in the report, that this correction is so considerable is due to the changing character of the population of the borough, principally the result of the inclusion of a larger proportion of elderly persons. The infant mortality rate of 56-3 per 1,000 births though shewing a slight increase over the two previous years is still lower than that of most other large centres of population. The increase is due to the prevalence of whooping cough during the year. I have again included on pages 14 and 15 tables shewing health progress in Reading over a long period of years and how Reading compares with the rest of the country.