THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1911. THE DOMINION , DEATH-RATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14573, 9 January 1911, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1911. THE DOMINION , DEATH-RATE.

It has. been announced by the British Registrar that the death-rate of the United Kingdom, for 1910 was the lowest on reoord, and in this connection it is desirable to understand the actual position occupied by New Zealand in the statistics which indicate its pro-, gress as compared to that of the ■ Mother Country. The annual deathrate for the 76 great towns of Eng- ■ land, based upon the returns for the fourth quarter of 1908, was 14.8 per 1000; the death-rate of New Zealand in 1908-9 was very low, but in 1907 , it was 10.95 per 1000; superficially, making a comparison greatly to our advantage. But this superficial comparison, although exceedingly instructive when all the circumstances are taken into account, is misleading if we assume that it indicates accurately a corresponding difference in our national vitalities. Every new country ; necessarily contains a j greater proportion of persons in the prime of life, this inequality of proportion in the matter of age making approximate comparison inaccurate until corrections are effected to a j sufficiently universal standard. At - the Statistical Conference held at Hobart, in 1902, it was resolved that j Sweden should be taken as a stand-1 ard. Sweden is a country whose : population may be regarded as living . under normal and averagely healthy ! conditions, and as containing a ! natural proportion of persons of all ! ages. When we correct the Dominion death-rate for 1907 to this accepted standard we learn from the result that very much is still possible in the way of hygienic reform. In 1907, the Dominion had an estimated mean population of 919,105 and in- the following table we give its distribution by ages;' both actually and corrected to the Swedish standard for purposes of statistical comparison : j Actual. Corrected,. j Under one year ... 23,0/0 23,437 One to 20 years ... 338,017 365,804 20 to 40 years ... 347,513 247,791 40 to 60 years ... 145., 176,744 60 and upwards ... 64,889 105,329 It will be seen at once that if New Zealand had reached the normal population conditions of such a settled country as Sweden it would have contained in 1907 nearly 100,000 less between the ages of 20 and 40, . during which period the death-rate is comparatively low, and that this number would have been largely distributed in the later periods, when ' the death-rate inevitably tends to increase. Our Dominion death-rate most therefore be rearranged before wet- can:-compare "ii to that of. other

countries with • any degree of 'accuracy. The actual' death-rates by age-periods, per 1000 of total population, for New Zealand and the corrected death-rates are as follows :— Actual. Corrected. Under one year ... 2.40 ... 2.46 One to 20 years ... 1.40 ... 1-50 20 to 40 years ... 1.65 ... 1.18 40 to 60 years ... 1.6? ... 1-93 60 and upwards < ... 3.£5 ... 6.2-3 Total ... ... 10.95 ... 13.35 The deduction is obvious. The death-rate of the United Kingdom, an old country, which steadily loses, by emigration, an appreciable number of men and women in the prime of life, is not much greater than the adjusted death-rate of New Zealand. Evidently, lack of sanitation kills as effectively as lack of food, and with all our climatic advantages, industrial prosperity and progressive legislation we have not yet out-dis-tanced the ancient country we come from in the supreme art of keeping men, women, and children healthy and alive.