[Report 1900] / Medical Officer of Health, Aberdeen City.

  • Aberdeen (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Report 1900] / Medical Officer of Health, Aberdeen City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/32 (page 2)
    REPORT BY THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH. In accordance with the new requirements of the Local Government Board, I shall deal in this report with a somewhat wider range of subjects than in preceding annual reports. Population.—I have in each of the annual reports for the last four or five years drawn attention to the probability that the population of the city was considerably higher than the estimate of the Registrar-General, which was based on the rate of increase between the censuses of 1881 and 1891. Calculating the rate of increase from the growth of voters in the assessor’s rolls, I ventured on the statement, in my last annual report, that “ it is probable that the population is at present under-estimated to the extent of between 5,000 and 6,000.” This surmise has proved to be very nearly correct, for while the population at the middle cf 1900—the year under report—was estimated to be 144,966, it has now been shown by the recent census to be approximately 150,906—a difference of 5,940. The error in the Registrar- General’s estimate is so large, and has affected so materially the mortality and other rates given in these annual reports, that the question is seriously raised whether it would not be more satisfactory in future, and give a nearer approximation to the truth, to estimate the growth of population in each year from the increase in the voters’ roll. I. need hardly say that all the rates given in the present report are calculated upon the population as now ascertained, and that the corrections have been carried back into the rates for all the years of the inter-censal period. The usual statistical tables relating to births, deaths, and marriages have been prepared, and are herewith submitted. They are so constructed as to enable comparisons to be made between the past year and the preceding years since 1865. The figures for the St. Nicholas and Torry division are also given separately from those of the St. Machar division (inclusive of Old Aberdeen and Woodside) so as to allow of a comparison in the rough between what may be termed the ' east-end” and the “west-end portions of the community. Birth-Rate (Table II.).—This rate (31-2 per 1,000) shows a slight fall; but it will be at the same time observed that the rate has remained almost unchanged during the last ten years, whereas during the preceding decades it had fallen considerably, commencing with 36-2 in 1866-75. It will be noted, however, that during the last ten years there has been a decided rise in the marriage-rate, namely, from 7-7 in 1890 to 9-6 in 1899, and 9-0 in 1900. This increasing marriage-rate ought, under ordinary circumstances, to have been associated with an increasing birth-rate; and the fact, that the birth-rate has not increased, points to a diminishing productiveness for each marriage. With a return of the marriage-rate to its old level, which may be looked for when the present tide of prosperity begins to recede, it is almost certain that the birth-rate will reach a lower level than hitherto. This fall in the birth-rate, whatever be its cause, is, however, becoming a prominent feature in the vital statistics of nearly every civilised community.