[Report 1941] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

  • North Riding of Yorkshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1941
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1941] / Medical Officer of Health, North Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    2/8 (page 2)
    NORTH RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNTY MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR THE YEAR 1941. To the Members of the North Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Mr. Chairman, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to submit the annual report on the public health service of the County Council for the year 1941. The Ministry of Health issued instructions in a circular (No. 2604 dated 24th March, 1942) regarding the features of such a report both as to the matters which shall receive comment and the statistical data which must be omitted for reasons of national security. Accordingly, no statement is made which includes information as to population movements, nor are the estimated mid-year figures for 1941 given for the North Riding administrative area or for tlie area of any of the constituent authorities. Information is available, however, to duly authorised persons who mag desire such statistical data. This report is, like those of 1939 and 1940, of an interim character and is as brief as possible in eiew of the need for economy in the use of paper. Appropriate information regarding the health services has been compiled as in pre-war years and will be used as the Minister of Health may direct. I submit my observations on the statistics which may be published and on the outstanding matters which arose during the year. (i) Vital Statistics. The birth rate for the whole county for 1941 showed an increase from 15-5 (1940) to 16-6 : this increase was more marked in the urban areas, particularly in the borough of Richmond, but the rural districts of Richmond and Wath also showed birth rates in excess of 25 per 1,000 of the population. The death rate for the administrative county was 13-6 per 1,000 of the population in place of 13-8 : the fall was more noticeable in the rural areas where some low rates were recorded. The infantile mortality rate rose from 48T in 1940 to 58 in 1941. The urban areas showed an increase to 61*6 : the corresponding rate for rural areas was 53-6. The comparative figure for England and Wales as a whole was 59, and for Scotland 83. The death rate from congenital malformation, birth injuries premature birth and infantile disease per 1,000 births showed an increase from 30-31 for 1940 to 36-53 for 1941.