M 155
12. In addition thirty-four deaths were recorded among the Forces of the Crown, five more than in 1938.
13. As in the case of birth-rates, it is necessary to give two methods of calculation of the crude, uncorrected death-rates and these can be seen in Table V below.
Table V.
1938 1939 Method A Method B Method A Method B Popula-tion Deaths Rate Popula-tion Deaths Rate Whole population... 1,028,619 38,818 37.7 1,050.256 48,283 46.0 1,228,619 38,818 31.6 1,750,256 48,283 27.6 Chinese 1,005,523 38,621 38.4 1,026,645 48,081 46.8 1,205,523 38,621 32.0 1,726,645 48,081 27.8 Non-Chinese.. 23,096 197 8.5 23,611 202 8.6 23,096 197 8.5 23,611 202 8.64. Still-births.
14. Only 1,402 still-births came under review in 1939 (1,075 in 1938), a ratio of just over three per centum to the live births registered. It is more than probable that a number of still-births never come to the notice of the authorities.
5. Infant mortality rate.
15. 15,678 Chinese infants under one year of age died in 1939, as compared with 12,001 in 1938; the infant mortality rates for 1939 and 1938 being 345 and 343 respectively. The rate among Chinese infants was nearly six times the corresponding rate among non-Chinese infants. Table VI gives the rates during the past five years.
Table VI.
Year 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Non-Chinese.. 57 37 46 42 58 Chinese 316 372 376. 343 3456. Deaths according to age and sex.
16. As in the previous year, the first for which data was available in relation to mortality according to age and sex, more than half the total number of deaths in 1939 took place within the first fifteen years of birth, the highest proportion occurring in the first decade.
17. The ratio of male to female deaths fell from 130 to 100 in 1938 to 123 to 100 in 1939. The alteration was due chiefly to a shift in the proportion of women dying over the age of forty-five years and no obvious reason be adduced to account for this except that every effort was made to persuade able-bodied male refugees to return to their villages and towns in unoccupied territory even if it was impracticable to send their womenfolk and children back with them. Table VII shows the particulars in detail.