HH62/1/ABERD/15

Transcription

[Page] 14

increase in the ten years of 12. While the population of
the district, as a whole, has thus remained almost stationary,
it will be seen from Table D that there has been considerable
fluctuation in the several parishes. The density of population
is .157 persons to the acre, or one person for every 6.36
acres.
The total number of births in the district in 1891 was
568. The total number of deaths from all causes was 228.
The total death-rate for the district is thus 13.597 per 1000
of the population. From the following Table it will be
seen that the Ellon District has the third lowest death-rate
of the eight districts into which the County is divided
and the highest birth-rate:-

Table A.

[Table inserted]

The average death-rate in the Mainland Rural Districts
of Scotland, according to the Returns of the Registrar-
General was, in 1891, 17.3 per 1000, while the average
death-rate for the whole of Scotland was 20.7. It will thus
be seen that the Ellon District compares favourably, not
only with the Mainland Rural Districts of Scotland as a
whole, but also with the other districts in the County.
The total number of deaths in 1891 registered as due to
zymotic (i.e., epidemic and contagious) diseases was 23.
This gives a total zymotic death-rate of 1.371 per 1000 of
the population. The zymotic death-rate in the eight
principal towns of Scotland was, in the same year, 3.34 per
1000. Of the 23 deaths due to zymotic diseases, 9 were
caused by diphtheria, one by typhoid fever, three by
whooping-cough, and three by measles; while seven are
put down as due to diarrhœa, which is now included among
zymotic diseases. With regard to diphtheria, I may here
mention that attention was directed by the Registrar-
General, in 1874, to the fact that Aberdeenshire had the
highest death-rate from this disease of any county in
Scotland during the decennium 1860-1870. The following

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Table shows the number of deaths per million in Scotland
and several of the counties (from diphtheria) during that
period:-

Table B.

[Table inserted]

Table C shows the death-rate in 1891 from diphtheria
in the eight districts of the County (exclusive of Burghs) and
in the town of Aberdeen, and it may be interesting to com-
pare with it here the death-rates from the other infectious
diseases:-

Table C.

[Table inserted]

It will be noticed from the above Table that the death-
rate from diphtheria is greater in the Country districts than
in the City. The greater prevalence of diphtheria in
Country districts is an old and well-known fact - though,
for some cause not yet sufficiently understood, diphtheria
has of late years been increasing at an almost alarming rate
in some of the larger cities, as, e.g., in London.