[Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset (England). County Council.
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/52 (page 9)
    STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE AREA. Area (in acres): 1,028,992. Population (1945): 438,770. Live Births:—Total 7,410; Jjegitimate 0,033; Illegitimate 783; Still births 190. Deaths:—Total 5,809; Urban 2,809; Rural 3,000. Rateable value £2,784,258 (1945). Sum represented by a penny rate:—£11,262 (1945-40); £11,357 (1946-47). Birth rate:—16.90. Illegitimate births, 10.55 per cent. Death rate:—13.23. Deaths under 1 year of age:—251. Rate of infantile mortality:—33.9. The birth rate shows a decrease from last year’s figure (18.05) but it still remains higher than in recent years. The percentage of illegitimate births is high and shows an increase over last year's figure (7.84). The normal illegitimate rate for Somerset was between 3 and 4 per cent., and so the present percentage is treble the usual rate. The death rate (13.23) is slightly higher than for the pi’evious year (12.78). It is again satis¬ factory to record that the rate of infantile mortality is only 33.9, a fall from 37.1 last year, and this year’s figure is only a shade higher than the remarkably low rale of 32.85 returned in 1942. The chief causes of death were heart diseases (1,606 deaths), cancer and other forms of malignant disease (867 deaths), bronchitis and prieumonia (459 deaths), and tuberculosis (187 deaths). The essential statistical returns covering births, infantile mortality, and deaths are given in