Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/231

 MORTALITY STATISTICS 21 /

ignated occupations. These numbers are large enough to afford some reliable results.

Generally speaking the classification of occupations adopted for the population is too extended and minute to be followed in classifying the occupations of decedents, as the subdivision of deaths by ages and causes results, in many cases, in too small numbers for the computation of reliable death rates for such details.

The general occupation tables compiled for the population of the whole country cover 218 titles, giving the occupation of 18,821,090 males of which number 17,765,270 are included in the 102 titles embraced in the tables showing the deaths in relation to occupation. The difference, which is but 1,055,820, is less than 6 per cent, of the whole number, and is distributed among I 1 6 occupations.

The general distinction of what a person does, and the con- ditions surrounding his employment, rather than technical skill, proprietary interest, or character of products, being most impor- tant in studying the effect of occupation upon the mortality at different ages, or from different causes, many minor occupations prosecuted under generally similar conditions may properly be grouped and considered together.

The following figures and remarks relate to occupations of males only.

The aggregate number of occupied males in the registration area and its subdivisions, with the number in each class of occu- pations and the proportion in each class per 1000 of the total, is shown in Table I

Table II. shows the proportion and distribution of the pop- ulation in the various classes of occupations in the several aretfl and the corresponding figures for the deaths follow.

The death rates per 1000 of male population are shown in Table III.

Tables I, II, and III show the aggregate number and propor- tion of the population and decedents in each class of occupations in the several areas, with the corresponding death rates, but the