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PART lI.—PUBLIC HYGIENE. 1 have the honour to submit my annual report for the year ended 31st March, 1930. SECTION I.—VITAL STATISTICS. POPULATION. The mean population of the Dominion for 1929 (exclusive of Maoris) was estimated to be 1,406,942. This total represents an increase over the corresponding figure for the previous year of 16,258, or a percentage increase of population of 1-17. BIRTHS. The births of 26,747 living children were registered in the Dominion during 1929, as against 27,200 in 1928. The birth-rate for 1929 was thus 19-01 per 1,000 of mean population. The general course of the birth-rate during the last ten years is shown in the following table :— Births (Number and Rate) in New Zealand, 1920-29. Total Number Birth-rate per Year. of 1,000 of Mean Births registered. Population. 1920 .. .. .. .. .. 29,921 25-09 1921 .. .. .. .. .. 28,567 23-34 1922 .. .. .. .. .. 29,006 23-17 1923 .. .. .. .. .. 27,967 21-94 1924 .. .. .. .. .. 28,014 21-57 1925 .. .. .. .. .. 28,153 21-17 1926 .. .. .. .. .. 28,473 21-05 1927 .. .. .. .. .. 27,881 20-29 1928 .. .. .. .. .. 27,200 19-56 1929 .. .. .. .. .. 26,747 19-01 The birth-rate steadily declines. There were 26,747 births for a population of 1,406,942, and tliere were 12,314 deaths, the difference or natural increase being 14,433 persons, or I*o per cent, only of the total population. Back in 1870 the natural increase was 3-1 per cent. DEATHS. The total number of deaths (12,314) registered during the year 1929, as compared with 11,811 in 1928, shows an increase of 503. Crude Death-rates. Crude Death-rate Crude Death-rate Year. per 1,000 Mean Year. per 1,000 Mean Population. Population. 1901 .. .. 9-81 1925 .. .. 8-29 1911 .. .. 9-39 1926 .. ... 8-74 1921 .. .. 8-73 1927 .. .. 8-45 1922 .. .. 8-77 1928 .. .. 8-49 1923 .. .. 9-03 1929 .. .. 8-75 1924 .. .. 8-29 STILL-BIRTHS. Still-births, which are defined by the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1924 as " children which have issued from their mother after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, and which were not alive at the time of such issue," are compulsorily registrable in the Dominion. The next table shows the number of such births and their rate per 1,000 live births in individual years for the quinquennium 1925-29. Still-births (Number and Rate) in New Zealand, 1925-29. Total Number Rate of Still-births Year. of Still-births per 1,000 registered. Live Births. 1925 .. .. .. .. .. 861 30-6 1926 .. .. .. .. .. 886 31-1 1927 .. .. .. .. .878 31-5 1928 .. .. .. .. .. 839 30-8 1929 .. .. . . .. .. 870 32-5 There was an increase of thirty-one still-births compared with the previous year, and the stillbirth rate has risen from 30-5 per 1,000 live births to 32-5 during the quinquennium. It is, however, of interest to note from the infant-mortality tables appearing later in this report that there was a reduction of thirty-three in the deaths of infants under one day old. (Note. —Still-births are not included, either as births or deaths, in the various numbers and rates given elsewhere in this report.)