demographic yearbook annuaire demographique 1951

TABLE I
Number of deaths from selected causes
per 100,000 population
(Median rate in each group of countries)
List Group Group Group
Cause of death 1 Number I II III
Infectious and parasitic........ 1-14 69 128 254
Pneumonia and bronchitis...... 26-27 52 75 118
Diarrhea and enteritis......... 29 7 28 107
Puerperal and pregnancy....... 35-36 3 3 12
Congenital and early infancy.... 38 44 63 85
Intracranial and nervous....... 22-23 97 133 74
Nephritis and urinary......... 33-34 38 39 45
Senility and ill-defined ......... 39, 44 33 103 206
Homicide.................... 41 1 2 4
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Heart and circulatory......... 24-25 341 250 83
Cancer...................... 15 141 136 32
Diabetes mellitus.............. 18 12 6 3
Suicide...................... 40 10 9 4
Auto-accidents................ 42 10 5 2
Other accidents............... 43 32 31 30
1 See table 22 for more precise listing of causes.
generally supposed to reflect the strains and stresses arising
in industrialized and urbanized communities.
Although statistics of deaths classified by cause are especially
scanty and defective for areas of the Group III type,
the sweeping decline of the crude death rate observed in
many such areas unquestionably marks the progress of the
fight against infectious and parasitic diseases, a progress
recently accelerated by discoveries in chemo-therapy, antibiotics
and the control of carrier insects. Spread of the use
of D.D.T., the sulpha drugs, penicillium, etc. is apparently
largely responsible for sharpened rates of decrease during
the past decade.
EXPECTATION OF LIFE
The evidence briefly described in this chapter indicates
that declines in the rate at which populations are decimated
by death are probably world-wide. The proportions of
children that survive the first year of life and the relative
numbers who live to maturity and old age continue to
increase.
The impact of these changes shows up most dramatically
in data on the expectation of life at birth and at later ages.
Unfortunately, life tables cannot be constructed for most
countries and over substantial periods of time, but the data
that are available reveal wide differences in the average
length of life that is inherent in the prevailing death rates
of different areas and times.
The wastefulness of high mortality is evident when death
rates are such that they yield an expectation of life of only
30 to 40 years. This means that on the average, people may
be expected to die before they reach the middle of the most
active and productive age span. Even life expectancies of
40 to 50 years involve a heavy drain on the productive
capacity of a population. A number of the countries for
which recent data (1940 or later) are recorded in table 29
show life expectations within these ranges.
In countries of more favorable mortality, on the other
hand, the expectation of life at birth has moved well into
the advanced ages. The highest expectancies (at birth)
reported in the table are 69.4 years for males and 71.5 years
for females (Netherlands 1947-1949).
Some idea of the gains made over the past half-century
can be obtained from the data of 8 countries for which life
tables have been constructed for a period close to 1900 and
for a period that includes at least one postwar year. The
figures, shown below in table J, indicate increases in expectation
of life at birth of between 9 and 19 years.
Life expectation rises after the first year of life. In some
countries it continues to rise for several years. Once past
the hazards of infancy and early childhood, the probability
of survival is better. Thus, the Netherlands shows an expectation
of life at age 1 of 70.8 years for males and 72.4 years
for females of an average length of life of 71.8 and 73.4 years,
respectively, for persons surviving to age l.
In the succeeding ages, the expected after-life diminishes
but the expected age at death continues to rise. As each
milestone of age is reached, the prospects for a long life
improve. The time may come when most of those who are
born will live through a life span of 70 years or more.
TABLE J
Expectation of life at birth for 8 countries
Expectation oj life at birth (years)
Country and sex Circa 1900 1 Circa 1946 1 - Increase
Australia
Male.............. 55.2 66.1 10.9
Female............ 58.8 70.6 11.8
Denmark
Male.............. 52.9 65.6 12.7
Female............ 56.2 67.7 11.5
Finland
Male.............. 45.3 54.6 9.3
Female............ 48.1 61.1 13.0
France
Male.............. 45.3 62.5 17.2
Female............ 48.7 68.0 19.3
Japan
Male.............. 44.0 56.2 12.2
Female............ 44.8. 59.6 14.8
Netherlands
Male.............. 51.0 69.4 18.4
Female............ 53.4 71.5 18.1
Sweden
Male.............. 54.5 67.1 12.6
Female............ 57.0 69.7 12.7
Trinidad and Tobago
Male.............. 36.7 53.0 16.3
Female............ 38.7 56.0 17.3
1 See table 29 for exact periods covered.
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