Vital Statistics
The annual report of the chief medical officer of the ministry of health, just published, shows that the year 1926 ranks with the year 1923 as the healthiest in the history of this country. The death rate for both years was 11.6 per thousand, and there was a conspicuous absence of influenza and its attendant ailments. The infant death rate in 1923 was 69; last year, 70. Thus there is no trace in the vital statistics of 1926 of any evil effect exercised on the population by the severe industrial upheavals that occurred. The statistics are as follows: Births, 694,563, a rate of 17.8, the lowest on record, except that of the war years. Deaths, 453,804, a decrease of 19,037 from the previous year. The infant mortality rate per thousand born was 70, compared with 75 in 1925. This presents a saving of 40,000 infant lives over and