PUBLIC HEALTH
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ary. The following table gives the statistics of births and deaths for the last five years:
Births
Birth-Rate per 1,000 of population
Death-Rate
Deaths
per 1,000 of population
1952......
71,976
32
19,459
8.6
1953......
75,544
33.6
18,300
8.1
1954......
83,317
36.6
19,283
8.5
1955....
90,511
38.7
19,080
8.2
1956
96,746
39.7
19,295
7.9
The maternal mortality rate in 1956 was 0.90 per 1,000 births, compared with 1.16 per 1,000 births in 1955, and 1.24 in 1954. The infant mortality rate was 60.9 per 1,000 live births, compared with 66.4 per 1,000 in 1955, and 72.4 in 1954. The infant mortality rate has fallen steadily since the war and, if the war years are excluded, over the last 26 years. The neo-natal mortality, or number of children dying in the first month of life, was 2,342, giving a neo-natal mortality rate of 24.2 per 1,000 live births. The number of still births was 988, giving a pre-natal mortality rate of 10.2 per 1,000 live births.
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
The table at Appendix XIII sets out in detail the returns of communicable diseases notified during the year as com- pared with 1955, including the mortality due to those diseases. Certain of these diseases call for some specific comment.
Bacillary Dysentery. While notifications of this disease were about the same as those for 1955, deaths ascribed to it decreased markedly and were the lowest recorded since 1946. The incidence shows a peak between the months of May and August. The following table shows the number of cases and deaths in two age groups with figures of the previous five years for comparison.