non-Chinese (206 males and 83 females). The crude death rate accord- ingly dropped from 4.92 to 4.69, which is the lowest rate of any country in the world shown in the Demographic Year Book 1968 (see paragraph 162), and compares with an estimated 15 for the whole world. While once again due tribute must be paid to the efficiency of the Colony's medical and health services, it must be acknowledged that this excep- tionally low rate to a large extent results from the age structure of the population, which contains an abnormally high proportion of younger people. The infant mortality rate also dropped by 1.21 from 23.03 to 21.82 per thousand of live births.
176. Table XL gives the numbers of deaths registered by district in 1967, 1968 and 1969. It shows that of the 18,730 deaths in 1969, 6,051 (32.3%) were on Hong Kong Island, 11,283 (60.2%) in Kowloon and New Kowloon, and 1,396 (7.5%) in the New Territories. Table XLI gives the numbers of registered deaths by sex and age group during the five years 1965 to 1969.
177. In relation to the statistics in Table XLI it is advisable to repeat the warning given in previous Reports. The vast majority of the ages of the deceased are given to the District Registrars by relatives according to the Chinese reckoning, under which, for instance, if a child is born the day before Chinese New Year, it is regarded as being two years old on the following day. These Chinese ages are converted by the District Registrars to ages according to the European reckoning, but obviously errors can easily be made in the process. There is, more- over, no doubt but that a great many people are extremely hazy about their own and their relatives' ages. A further complicating factor is the tendency of relatives to exaggerate the age of the deceased, it being not uncommon in public announcements to add one month to the age for every year of the deceased's true age. The District Registrars, how- ever, use their best endeavours to ascertain the correct age, and the figures given for the various groups are thought to be pretty fair approximations.
Accident and Suicide Deaths
178. Table XLII shows the number of registered deaths in 1969 by accident and suicide classified by cause, sex and age group. This reveals that 837 people died by accident or suicide as follows, the 1968 figures being given in brackets (though for the reason mentioned below a direct comparison with the 1968 figures is not possible):
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