HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 96, 20 October 1933, Page 15

HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE

The year 1932 was remarkable for its death-rate —8,02 per thousand of the j mean population, states the annual re-! port of the Department of Health, presented to* the House of Representatives yesterday. The rate is the lowest so far recorded in New Zealand. The birth-rate, which was 17.09 per thousand of the mean population, shows a further fall as compared even with the low rate for the preceding year. Infant mortality has shown a steady improvement during the last twenty years, the rate for 1932 being the record low figure of .31.22-per thousand live births. Dealing with the effect of the depression on the health of the people,. the report states:—"There is no evidence from the vital statistics that the health of the masses has been in any way impaired during more recent years. The death-rate, the infant-mortality rate, the mortality from tuberculosis, were all lower: in 1932 than at any other time in the history of the Dominion. This is. all to the "good, but it may be argued; that the death returns do not represent the true position as the effects of malnutrition are delayed and while causing sickness may not have had time as yet to affect' the death-rate. The records of our public hospitals, however, do not support any suggestion that there is increased morbidity in New Zealand as the result of the depression."