Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1961-1962 — Page 39

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lower than the other quarters except in 1958 and 1959 when the births in the first quarter were the lowest.

86. Table XXV is a new table showing registered births in 1959, 1960 and 1961 by districts. This shows that the numbers of births registered in the New Territories are rising steadily, and that in the Kowloon and New Kowloon urban area there have, as compared with 1960, been marked declines in the numbers registered at Sham Shui Po and Kwong Wah Hospital balanced by an increase in the number registered at Kowloon (Farm Road). This last change is no doubt due to the swing of population to east New Kowloon in consequence of the construction of many large resettlement estates there.

Deaths Registered

87. During the year 18,738 deaths were registered comprising 18,518 Chinese (10,151 male, 8,366 female, and 1 unknown sex) and 220 non-Chinese (143 male and 77 female). Table XXVI gives the numbers of deaths registered in, and the crude death rates for, the years 1948 to 1961, and Table XXVII the numbers of deaths registered by age groups during the five years 1957 to 1961. The former shows that the 1961 total was the lowest annual figure since 1953, and that the crude death rate of 5.9 per thousand of the population represents a continuation of the downward trend in this rate since 1954. Now that age group figures are available for the whole population it has been possible to produce death rates per thousand living in the various age groups, and Table XXVIII gives these rates and the rate of infant mortality by sexes for the year.

88. In relation to these statistics it is perhaps advisable to repeat last year's warning. 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 moreover, 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, however, use their best

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