K 7
The total number of deaths which occurred amongst the Non-Chinese resident population was 234, and allowing 1,500 for the Non-Chinese floating population this gives a death-rate of 20 per 1,000 for the resident Non-Chinese Civil population estimated at 11,700.
Table I attached gives the number and causes of deaths registered during 1908.
The following Table of population, births and deaths is given for the purpose of ready comparison with similar tables given in reports from other Colonies :-
Europeans and Whites. East Indians. Chinese. Mixed and Coloured. Total. Number of Inhabitants in 1908 11,252 10 316,850 4,260 336,488 Number of Births in 1908 130 1 1,137 105 1,412 Number of Deaths in 1908 117 8 8,988 51 9,291 Number of Immigrants in 1908 157,809 Number of Emigrants in 1908 ** *** 71,081 Number of Inhabitants in 1907 10,025 13 311,057 4,160 329,357 Increase or Decrease +1,227 -3 +5,793 +100 +7,131AGE DISTRIBUTION OF DEATHS.
The number of known deaths of infants under one year of age was 2,099 or 22.6 per cent. of the total deaths, as compared with 22.9 per cent. in 1907 and 19.4 per cent. in 1906.
The infant mortality amongst the Non-Chinese Community during the year was 90.9 per 1,000 as compared with 91.2 per 1,000 in 1907.
Chinese Infant Mortality :-The corrected number of Chinese births in 1908 was 1,137 and the deaths under twelve months numbered 1,073 is not found, however, a similar sentence is found later with 2,073. This gives a Chinese infant mortality of 915 per 1,000.
At first sight this would appear to indicate that only 85 children per 1,000 born in the Colony survive one year.
In the census year 1906 it was found that there were 1,329 children living in the Colony under 1 year of age and 14,980 between 1 and 5 years of age. It must be therefore that many of the children who die under one year of age are not born in the Colony, or that comparatively few children born in the Colony have their births registered.
DISEASES. Respiratory Diseases.
The total number of deaths from these diseases for the year was 2,553 of which 55 were among the Non-Chinese Community, leaving 2,498 among the Chinese population; 186 out of this total occurred in infants under one year of age.
Phthisis alone accounts for 769 deaths of which 748 were Chinese, viz., 8.3 per cent. of the total deaths amongst the Chinese as compared with 9.6 per cent. in 1907.
Pneumonia caused 1,133 deaths of which 1,106 were amongst Chinese.
The Chinese death-rate from Respiratory Diseases was 7.8 per 1,000 as compared with 5.8 per 1,000 in 1907; that for Phthisis was 2.3 per 1,000 as compared with 2.1 in 1907.
Nervous Diseases.
The number of deaths under this heading for the year 1908 was 419 as compared with 522 in 1907. Of these 304 were Chinese children under 5 years of age, as compared with 424 in 1907, and 219 of these were amongst children of 1 year old or less. The principal causes of these latter deaths were Convulsions, Tetanus and Trismus which accounted for 178 and Meningitis which accounted for 41 deaths,