[Report 1963] / Medical Officer of Health, Dundee City.

  • Dundee (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1963
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1963] / Medical Officer of Health, Dundee City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Annual Report, 1963 The Lord Provost, Magistrates and Town Councillors of the City of Dundee, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have pleasure in submitting my annual report of the work of the Health and Welfare Department for the year 1963 the general arrangement of which is similar to that adopted in previous years. Vital Statistics : The statistics show that the health of the City has been maintained at a satisfactory level and although no records have been broken, the 1958 record of the lowest infant death rate has been equalled, the rate being 20 per 1,000 births. On the debit side however, the illegitimate birth rate has increased to 7.4 per 100 live births which is the highest rate recorded since 1945. Population : The population of the City as estimated by the Registrar General at the middle of 1963 was 184,119, an increase of 559 over the previous year and an increase of 1,141 over the 1961 Census population of 182,978. The natural increase of population—the increase of births over deaths—is 1,434. Deaths : The number of deaths corrected for transfers during 1963 was 2,332 compared with 2,260 in 1962. The respective rates per 1,000 population were 12.7 and 12.3. This year’s total deaths comprised 1,228 females and 1,104 males, this being the equivalent of 111.2 female deaths for every 100 male deaths. It would appear that the sex proportion of deaths is running a parallel course to the sex proportion of the population, as the 1961 Census Report showed that there were 114.1 females for every 100 males resident in this Citv. The comparative death rates for Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow are 12.1, 13.1 and 13.3 respectively, while the death rate for Scotland as a whole is 12.6 and for large burghs 12.4. The average age at death during 1963 was 67.7 compared with 65.9 years in 1962. The proportional mortality ratio, which is the number of deaths at the age of 50 years and over expressed as a percentage of the total number of deaths in the population, was 89.5 per cent. In 1962, this figure was 88.8 per cent. Tuberculosis deaths have increased this year to 12 (all pulmonary) from 7 (6 pulmonary, 1 non pulmonary) in 1962. Deaths from respiratory conditions and influenza rose considerably from 216 in 1962 to 265. Bronchitis and pneumonia deaths continue to increase and accounted for forty-two more deaths than in the previous year. Influenza deaths amounted to seven, which is one more than in 1962.