Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/236

* VITAL STATISTICS. 188 VITAL STATISTICS. death rate for the whites of 17.3 and for the negroes of 30.2. From the published tables it is impossible to derive the death rate of whites and negroes by ages, but the figures for the colored, 94.3 per cent, of whom were negroes, furnish an approximate index of the death rate of the negroes. The rates are indicated in the follow- ing table: Death rate of Whites Colored 0- 4 .•:.... 49.7 4.1 6.9 8.6 11.1 21.5 86.0 118.5 5 14 9.8 15 24 15.6 a5-34 16.9 35-44 21.0 45-64 36.7 65 108.6 17.3 29.6 The death rate of the colored race in the United States up to the age of twenty-five is apparentlj- about two and one-half times that of the whites, and the difference between the two races is apparently greatest between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. From that age the difference greatly declines, the mortality of the colored being a little less than twice that of the whites between the ages of twentj'-five and forty- five, and above the age of sixty-five exceeding that of the whites by only about one-fourth. Marital Condition. The death rate of married men is almost always, if not alwa.vs, less than that of the unmarried of the same age. Thus, in the registration area of the United States in 1900, the death rates of males were as follows: During the early years of married life the dif- ference is decidedly to the disadvantage of w'ivea compared with spinsters; it gradually declines, disappears at about the age of forty, and at later ages the health of wives is better than that of unmarried women. Occupations. The leading source of informa- tion regarding the mortality in various occupa- tions is the English statistics. The influence of occupation is most marked during the ages between twenty-five and sixty-five, after the per- son has been for some time thus engaged, and before retirement to some less exacting work or to industrial inactivity has come to a large proportion. For the purpo.^e of comparison be- tween the several occupations the 'comparative mortality figure' is computed. This is found by ascertaining the number of men twenty-five to thirty-four, thirty-five to forty-four, forty-five to fifty-four, and fifty-five to sixty-four years of age, necessary to yield in one year, at the death rates determined for the entire male population of those ages, 1000 deaths, thus: Deatli rate of Single Married Widower 15-u :.. 9.4: 33.3 107.8 8.1 20.4 75.0 19.6 45-64 37.6 66 116.4 The death rate of the married is uniformly least and that of widowers uniformly greatest. Various reasons for the difference have been as- signed. Among them are the more regular life of husbands, their better economic condition, and their better health at the start, the weak and sickly being unable or unwilling to enter matri- mony. Probably all of these reasons are at work. An interesting evidence of the beneficial influence of marriage upon the health of men has been draw'n from the figures for Norway and Sweden. As a rule the death rate rises slowly but steadily from the minimum in the early teens if) the maxiinuiM at the end of life. But if mar- riage is a hcallhier state than single life, then during the years when large numlxTS of men are passing from the less healtliy to the more healthy condition the tendency to an increase of the death rate with age might diminish or disappear. And that is preeisel}' what is observed. The death rate of bachelors and of husbands taken sepa- rately increased steadily with age. but the death rate of all males between thirty and thirty-four was less than between twenty and twenty-four, an anomaly which Kiaer explains by jiointing to the nuich larger proportion of married men at the later age period. The efieet of marriage on the vitality of women is not so clearly beneficial. AGE Males Death rate of all males Computed deaths 25-34 22.586 17,418 12.885 8.326 7.67 13.01 21.37 39.01 173 3.5-14 227 45-54 275 55-64 325 1,000 and then applying the observed death rates for men of the same ages in the occupation in ques- tion to equal groups, as follows: AGE Males Death rate of clergymen Computed deaths 25-34 22.586 17,418 12,885 8.326 4.23 6.18 10.52 25.35 96 35-44 90 45-64 130 55-64 211 533 ^ o A comparative mortality figure above 1000 indicates that the mortality of men engaged in the occupation in question is above that of all men twenty-five to sixty-four years of age and vice versa. The following table gives the num- ber of deaths reported for a few of the leading occupations and the comparative mortality figures : OCCUPATION Number of deaths Comparative mortality figures 27,796 25.602 23.998 23.089 2(1,034 11.629 10.456 10,220 1,219 957 nuilciing tradeH 602 Metal-workers 1,128 1,221 925 859 Textile nianufaeturera 1,054 But within the foregoing great groups, includ- ing all those for which at least 10,000 deaths were reported, wide' differences are observed. Tims, among those engaged in transi)ort service, railway engineers and firemen have a eomjiara- tive mortality figure of 810, and dock and wharf laliorers a ('mpar;ilive mortality figure of IS'iP. ■ The healthiest occupations, as shown by these English figures, are those of clergyman (.')3.'i). farmer (503), teacher (604), and lawyer (821).