Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements.

  • Straits Settlements. Medical Department.
Date:
[1933]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/134 (page 5)
    II.—PUBLIC HEALTH (a).—General Remarks MONTHLY mortality FIGURES FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS. 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 January ••• 2,577 2,571 2,387 2,487 2,224 2,177 February 2,219 2,139 2,117 i,956 U947 1,967 March 2,401 2,410 2,411 2,004 1,924 1,966 April ... 2,615 2,307 2,689 2,208 2,026 2,000 May ... 3,004 2,734 3,219 2,903 2,279 2,250 June 2,921 2,629 3A94 2,742 2,i73 2,214 July 2,980 2,57i 2,870 2,323 1,961 2,084 August ... 2,495 2,302 2,603 2,255 1,834 1,884 September 2,496 2,323 2,588 2,033 1,867 i,936 October ... 2,524 2,443 2,658 2,046 2,042 2,068 November 2,607 2,482 2,639 2,112 2,092 2,238 December ... 2,677 2,633 2,553 2,300 2,172 2,417 Total Deaths ... 31,516 29,544 31,928 27,369 24,54i 25,201 The economic depression of 1932 continued throughout the year under review necessitating further repatriation of Chinese and Indian labourers. 86,555 deck passengers returned to China and 32,339 deck passengers returned to India, as compared with 150,918 to China and 52,911 to India in 1932. The continued high standard of health throughout 1933 may be attributed in part to the emigration of many sick and decrepit persons, but it is reasonable to conclude from the low mortality figures for communities not affected by emigration, that the year under review was a healthy one. The number of admissions to hospitals decreased from 54,442 in 1932 to 50,206 in 1933- The universal economic depression and the consequent lowering of the standard of living curiously enough did not give rise to any definite increase in those diseases which one would expect as a result from deficiency in quality or quantity of food. The total number of deaths recorded in 1933 was 25,201, compared with 24,541 in the previous year. The death-rate was 24.26 per mille, as compared with 21.39 per mille in 1932. The infantile mortality was 168.04 Per mille, compared with 162.43 in 1932. The census population for 1931 and the population estimated racially and collec¬ tively of the Straits Settlements for the years 1931, 1932 and mid-year 1933 are shown in Table III C. The method of calculating the population is that adopted by the Registrar-General of Statistics, Straits Settlements, who derives the mid-year population for the year 1933 from the 1931 census figures by adding the excess of births over deaths and subtracting the excess of emigrants over immigrants. The figure for the population of the Straits Settlements (excluding Christmas Island and Cocos Island) is 1,038,827. The following table sets out the estimated population by race, mid-year, 1933, obtained by the balancing equation method (Census + Births — Deaths + Migrational Surplus) : — Government of Local Registration Area Malays Euro¬ peans Eurasians Chinese Indians Others Total (1) (2> (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Straits Settlements Singapore Island Penang Island Province Wellesley Dindings .. Malacca Labuan 67,050 40,897 72,684 7,855 99,070 5,048 7,611 1,251 215 20 306 21 7,061 2,102 276 16 2,070 36 383,617 113,913 41,407 6,286 60,069 2,094 40,991 22,616 20,125 3,874 18,757 139 8,180 1,834 581 79 630 67 514,500 182,613 135,287 18,130 180,892 7,405 Total, S.S. .. 292,604 9,424 11,550 607,376 106,502 11,371 1,038,827