PUBLIC HEALTH
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It is estimated, however, from data accumulated in surveys of limited scope, that one-third of the population is aged 14 years or under and that there is a predominance of males in the young adult age groups. The estimated mid-year population was 2,857,000.
For the first time since records were re-established after World War II there has been a decline over the previous year both in the total number of births registered and in the birth rate. The natural increase of 84,329 persons was 1,741 less than for 1958 and the birth rate also declined to 36.6 per 1,000. The crude death rate of 7.1 per 1,000 was again the lowest on record. The following table gives the figures of births and deaths for the last
five years:
Year
Death rate per 1,000 of estimated mid-year population
Birth rate per 1,000 of
Births
estimated
Deaths
mid-year
population
1954 ...
83,317
36.6
19,283
8.5
1955 ...
90,511
38.7
19,080
8.2
1956 ...
96,746
39.7
19,295
7.9
1957 ...
97,834
37.9
19,365
7.5
1958 ...
106,624
38.8
20,554
7.5
1959 ...
104,579
36.6
20,250
7.1-
The infant mortality rate dropped to 48.3 per 1,000 live births; the neonatal mortality rate was 21.3 per 1,000 live births and the still birth rate was 13.1 per 1,000 live births. There were only 77 maternal deaths and the maternal mortality rate further declined to 0.73 per 1,000 total births. The perinatal rate, the deaths of infants under 1 week of age, was 25.7 per 1,000 total births.
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
The total of 20,241 cases of notifiable diseases represented an increase of 7.3% over the 1958 total. The increase was due largely to a rise in the number of reported cases of diphtheria, enteric fever, bacillary dysentery and tuberculosis. There were fewer deaths, however, from notifiable communicable diseases, the total of 2,589 being less by 173 than that for the previous year. There were fewer deaths from tuberculosis, enteric fever and diphtheria. Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis continues to be the major communi- cable disease problem in Hong Kong and an estimated 2% of the
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