Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

WALES: ITS POLITICS AND ECONOMICS V.-HEALTH AND VITAL STATISTICS ALTHOUGH in recent years Wales has had too much occasion to lament the existence in many directions of unsatisfactory physical conditions, combined directions of unsatisfactory physical conditions, together with some distaste for and disapproval of athleticism, the tradition of the Cymric race is really very much other- wise, as exemplified by the elaboration of Y Pedair Camp a Hugain," and by constant allusion in legend and letters to the physical prowess of its sons and, in some cases, of its daughters. Though wholly unmoved by the passion for aggression and domination, they have ever proved intrepid and virile champions of the cause of national independence and human freedom, whether waged against Roman, Saxon, Dane or Norman at home, or Gaul or Teuton abroad, cultivating with equal zeal their traditional lore and pristine vigour. The vogue of the anaemic student sickled oe'r with the pale cast of thought," though tragically illustrated in the untimely demise of young Welshmen of the highest promise, is probably passing, and was at all times flagrantly contrary to the national genius, which has ever been one of abounding intellectual and physical fitness. The disfavour into which athletic pursuits temporarily fell in Welsh estimation was probably an outcome of Puritan conceptions-imported rather than indigenous. A comprehensive survey of the health conditions of the Principality as a whole, based upon adequate reports by the Medical Officers of the different authorities, is a desideratum, which apparently will only be forthcoming when complete Welsh autonomy is obtained, though there is really no sufficient reason why under existing conditions something of the kind should not be forthcoming through the machinery of the Local Government Board, Insurance Commissioners, and Board of Education, separately or jointly. In the meantime, we are constrained to rely upon the Census Returns, and the amorphous and unwieldy Annual Report of the Registrar General, which certainly is not lacking in multitudinous detail. The vital statistics of the nation presumably cannot be accurately appreciated without some knowledge of the distribution of age and sex, and in both matters Wales is curiously differentiated from England. The estimated population at the middle of 1914 was distributed as regards sex as under Total. England. Wales including Total Population 36,960,684 34,437,231 2,523,423 Males 17,877,252 16,589.961 1,287,091 Females 19,082,632 17,847,270 1,236,382 It will thus be seen that, while in England the females exceed the males by 1,257,309, in Wales the males exceed the females by 50,729. Wales has, also, the advantage of a decidedly larger proportion of children, of course increasing proportionately its educational responsibilities-the actual figures being as under Population Total England Per cent. of Wales. Per cent. of In years. Population. Population. Up to 5 3,953.188 3,654,530 10.61 298,555 11.83 5to10 3,790,730 3,509,105 10.19 281,625 11.16 10 to 15 3,586,844 334,118 9.68 252.726 10.02 11,330,762 10,497,861 30,48 832,901 33.01 Monmouth. It is interesting to note that in spite of the marked disproportion later between the sexes in England, at the outset the sexes are practically equally divided both in England and in Wales, the position being that, of children under five years of age, the distribution is Males. Females. In England 1,836,581 1,818,057 In Wales 149,905 148.645 It would thus appear that while England exports, on the other hand Wales imports men. The natural growth of the population in the United Kingdom in 1914 was as under:- Births per Deaths per Natural 1000. 1000. Increase. England and Wales 23.8 14.0 9.8 Wales 27.0 14.2 12.8 Scotland 26.1 15.5 10.6 Ireland 22.6 16.3 6.3 the natural increase in Wales being then quite 30 per cent. greater than in England and Wales conjointly. The more salient of the vital statistics of Wales may perhaps be concisely and conveniently concentrated and presented in the following tabular form :→- Mortality per million persons living at all Mortality per 1,000 births. Births Deaths ages from per per Tuber- Total Child Puerperal 1,000. 1,000. culosis deaths birth fever. in all under (mothers). forms. one yr. Wales 27.0 14.2 England-North 25.4 15.4 Midlands 23.4 13.1 South 21.5 13.2 England and Wales 23.8 14.0 1,361 105 2.62 1.55 Average of Ad- ministrative Counties 1,227 2.60 1.51 Average of County Boroughs 1,644 121 2.66 1.63 Wales- Administrative Counties. Anglesey 20.5 14.9 1,372 93 5.74 1.91 Brecknock 24.9 14.1 1,205 101 3.98 3.32 Cardigan 15.8 15.7 1,729 83 425 425 Carmarthen 25.7 14.7 1,476 127 5.14 2.10 Carnarvon 17.7 15.2 1,746 111 5.88 1.36 Denbigh 22.9 13.6 1,276 104 3.53 2.06 Flint 24.4 14.1 1,235 85 3.44 258 Glamorgan 31.3 13.8 1,069 113 3.73 1.65 Merioneth 17.7 15.1 1,699 105 1.52 Monmouth 31.1 13.5 914 108 5.32 1.35 Montgomery 19.8 13.7 1,081 66 1.91 1.91 Pembroke 22.9 14.2 1,503 88 1.45 3.87 Radnor 21'.0 12.6 892 51 2.13 2.13 County Boroughs. Cardiff 25.2 14.2 1,585 109 3.12 1.25 Merthyr Tydvil 28.2 16.0 1,394 120 465 Swansea 27.4 16.1 1,879 142 3.66 1.83 While the contrasts between counties are sufficiently striking, those between individual localities are perhaps even more so, as in the case of Beaumaris, with a death rate of 10.9, as against Amlwch 25.3— both in Anglesey; or Llandudno 9.8, with Bethesda 23.8— -both in Carnarvon-