M 14
(2) Non-Chinese Registration.
46. 558 births were registered in this section in 1938 (270 male and 288 female). This is a decrease of 134 on the 1937 figure. The crude birth-rate is estimated at 24.2 per 1,000 living in 1938 as compared with 30.6 in 1937. There were 244 non-Chinese deaths (excluding eleven deaths in the Forces of the Crown) in 1937, giving a death-rate of 11 per 1,000 living, whereas in 1938 the corresponding figures were 197 (excluding twenty-nine deaths in the Crown Forces) giving a death-rate of 8.5.
47. The deterioration of general health in the Chinese inhabitants, which is clearly demonstrated by these figures, has not been accompanied by a corresponding falling off in the health of the non-Chinese people living in Hong Kong. This is to be accounted for by the immeasurably higher standard of living of the non-Chinese elements of the population. In the year under review, there were ten still-births in the non-Chinese population.
48. Twenty-three non-Chinese infants under one year of age died in 1938, as compared with thirty in 1937. This gives an infant mortality rate of 42 for non-Chinese infants, as compared with 46 for the year 1937.
49. Comment on the respective infant mortality rates of the Chinese and non-Chinese communities is needless; the figures cry aloud.
50. Sick and invaliding rates are still unobtainable in the case of the general non-Asiatic population, but steps were taken in 1938 with the permission of Government which may result in useful data being collected in 1939 regarding morbidity rates in European officials.
(3) European Officials.
Table IV furnishes data regarding the health of European officials during 1938 and affords means of comparison with the state of health of this section of the community in the preceding two years.
1936 1937 1938 Total number of officials resident 942 940 1,042 Average number resident 930 918 833 Total number on sick list 453 453 435 Total number of days on sick list 7,144 6,134 7,367 Average daily number on sick list Percentage of sick to average 20 17 20 number resident 49% 49% 52% Average number of days on sick list for each patient 16 14 17 Average sick time (in days) to each resident 7 723 Total number invalided 10 12 5 Percentage of invalidings to total residents 1.06% 1.28% 0.48% Total deaths 7 3 5 Percentage of deaths to total residents 0.74% 0.32% 0.48% Percentage of deaths to total average number resident 0.75% 0.33% 0.60%