H.-31

1920. NEW ZEALAND.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE AID. REPORT THEREON BY THE CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER AND THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

Presented in pursuance of Section 76 of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1918.

The Chief Health Officer and Inspector-General of Hospitals to the Hon. the.Minister of Public Health. Department of Public Health, Hospitals, and Charitable Aid, Sir,— Wellington, Ist August, 1920. 1 have the honour to present my annual report on the work of this Department for the year ended 31st March, 1920. Public Health Section. Population. The population of New Zealand at the census of October, 1916, was 1,099,449. This total does not include Maoris, whose number was separately determined as 49,776. The estimated mean population (excluding Maoris) for 1919 is given by the Government Statistician as 1,125,549. Births. The births registered in New Zealand during the year 1919 numbered 24,483, as against 25,860 in 1918, and a yearly average of 27,223 during the pre-war period 1910-14. The birthrate for 1919 was 2T54 per 1,000 of the total population. The following table is of interest as showing the general course of the birth-rate during the last twenty years : —

The table demonstrates the fact that during the period 1900-17 there was little variation from year to year in the rate. In 1918, however, a noticeable decline occurred in the number of births, followed in 1919 by a still further decline. Indeed, the birth-rate for the year under review is the lowest which has been recorded since 1855, when compulsory registration of births first came into force. This downward movement was not unexpected, and is attributable to the adverse influences of the war and the epidemic. The absence of men of marriageable age with the Expeditionary Forces caused the marriage-rates for 1917 and 1918 to fall to an unprecedently low level, while the influenza of November, 1918, claimed the majority of its victims from adults between the ages of twenty and forty-five.

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Year. TotalTNumlicr of Births registered. Birth-rate per 1,000 of Population. Year. Total Number of Births registered. Birth-rate per 1,00i of Population. 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 19,546 20,491 20.655 21,829 22,766 23,682 24.252 25,094 25,940 26,524 25-60 26-34 25-89 26-61 26-94 27-22 27-08 27-30 27-45 27-29 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 25,984 26,354 27,508 27,935 28,338 27,850 28,509 28,239 25,860 24,483 26-17 25-97 26-48 26-14 25-99 25-33 25-94 25-69 23-44 21-51 • >