PUBLIC HEALTH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5184, 28 September 1927, Page 4

PUBLIC HEALTH.

GAIN IN TEN YEARS.

increased expectation of life

“In 1916 the crude general death rate in New Zealand was 9.64 per 1000 of population. It has gradually fallen to 8.74 in 1926,” said Dr. T. McKibbin, Director of Public Hygiene, in an address- to the Sanitary Inspectors’ Association at Wellington. “The expectation of life, or the average after lifetime of a person at birth was for females in 1916 61.7 years. In 1926 it had raised to 63.5 years. That is to say, the span of life was increased by about two years in a short ten-year period. In 1896 the expectation of life for females in New Zealand was 58 years. It has thus been extended by 5% years in the 30 years from 1896 to 1926. England has shown a gain of fifteen years in. roughly, half, a century. New Zealand’s gain in that period has not been definitely ascertained, but is considerably lessi, since the conditions of living in New Zealand half a century ago, though primitive, were far more healthy than inthe older countries. I have taken females as an example because the war years disturbed the male population, though for males the statistics are similarly favourable. Thus one of the many solid benefits: conferred by improvement in the public health is that it is steadily becoming more economical to insure a life in New Zealand. ENORMOUS GAINS. “For purposes of comparison,” continued Dr. McKibbin, “I now give you the expectation of life, or average after lifetime at birth, for females ip several countries : New Zealand, 63.5 years ; Australia, 63.3 ; South Africa, 59.2 ; England and Wales, 55.4 ; United States, 53.2 ; Japan, 44.8. “The expectation of life, then, of a New Zealand woman is eight years longer than that of her English sister and over eighteen years longer than that of a Japanese. And what may be said of the general benefits ? If we take typhoid fever and tuberculoses and compare 1876 witli 1926 wo see that of every' 100',090 persons formerly, thirty died annually from typhoid fever and 160 from tuberculosis. In 1926, taking the same number of persons, only 2.5 died from typhoid and fifty from tuberculosis. These arc the deaths only. Many more people who recovered from th®se diseases experienced weeks of suffering, and during that period lost their livelihood. The economic gain from improvement of the public health has been enormous.”