Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1965-1966 — Page 55

1956 to 1965, and includes the relevant percentages. During 1965, despite the increase in population the number of deaths registered was, as compared with 1964, down by 492 to 17,621 (56.1% being of males, and 43.9% being of females), comprising 17,334 Chinese (9,654 males and 7,680 females) and 287 non-Chinese (231 males and 56 females). The crude death rate accordingly dropped from 4.9 to 4.7, which is one of the lowest rates in the world. While due tribute must be paid to the efficiency of the Colony's medical and health services, it must be acknowledged that this exceptionally low rate to a large extent results from the age structure of the population, which contains an abnormally high proportion of young people. The infant mortality rate dropped 2.7 from 26.4 to 23.7 per thousand of live births, thus continuing the un- interrupted downward trend in this rate since 1950.

163. Table XXXV gives the numbers of deaths registered by districts in 1963, 1964 and 1965. It shows that of the 17,621 deaths in 1965, 5,433 (30.8%) were on Hong Kong Island, 10,786 (61.2%) in Kowloon and New Kowloon, and 1,402 (8.0%) in the New Territories. Table XXXVI gives the number of registered deaths by age group during the five years 1961 to 1965.

164. In relation to the statistics in Table XXXVI 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, however, 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

165. Table XXXVII shows the numbers of deaths in 1965 by accident and suicide classified by cause, sex, and age group. This reveals that 1,209 people died by accident or suicide as follows, the 1964 figures being given in brackets for comparison:

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