LOW DEATH RATE

Thames Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 19623, 3 February 1936, Page 4

LOW DEATH RATE

DOMINION LEADS WORLD INTERESTING FIGURES. AUSTRALIA A CLOSE SECOND. The fact that New Zealand continues to enjoy the lowest death rate in the world, both of infants and of the population generally, is revealed in the New Zealand Official Year Book for 1936, which was published recently. The figures for the various countries are compiled for the latest period of five years about which information is available, in most cases from 1930 to 1934. The Dominion rate during that period was 8.3 deaths per 100 persons. Australia was a close second with 8.8 per 1000, while South Africa and Canada were fourth and fifth with 9.6 and 10.0 respectively. At the other end of the scale came Chile with 24.5 and Egypt with 26.0. In the statistics devoted to infant mortality New Zealand is seen to be far ahead with a rate of 32 deaths per 1000 births, followed by Australia with 43. The infant death rate in England and Wales is about twice that of New Zealand. Other interesting figures are those for:—Canada 82, Italy 111, British India 176, and Chile 244. New Zealand's mortality position is attributed partly to such matters as climate, virility of the race, and comparative absence of large industrial undertakings. A further indication of healthy conditions is to be seen in the fact that the tuberculosis death rate of the Dominion is the lowest in the world of the principal countries, followed closely by South Africa and Australia.