NATURAL DEATH, PUBLIC HEALTH 245 



Prussia; (c) Bavaria; and (d) England and Wales, from 



1913 to 1920 by years. The results are shown in Table 29. 



The points to be especially noted in Table 29 are : 



1. In all the countries here dealt with the death-birth 

 ratio in general rose throughout the war period. This 

 means that the proportion of deaths to births increased 

 so long as the war continued. 



2. But in England it never rose to the 100 per cent, 

 mark. In other words, in spite of all the dreadful effects 

 of war, England's population wenti on making a net 

 increase throughout the war. 



3. Immediately after the war was over, the death- 

 birth ratio began to drop rapidly in all countries. In 

 England in 1919 it had dropped back from the high figure 

 of 92 per cent, in 1918 to 73 per cent. In France it dropped 

 from the high figure of 198 in 1918 to 154 in 1919, a 

 lower figure than France had shown since 1914. In all 

 the countries the same change is occurring at a rapid pace. 



Perhaps the most striking possible illustration of this 

 is the history of the death-birth ratio of the city of 

 Vienna, shown in Figure 4, with data from the United 

 States and England and Wales for comparison. Prob- 

 ably no single large city in the world was so hard hit by 

 the war as Vienna. Yet observe what has happened to 

 its death-birth ratio. Note how sharp is the decline in 

 1919 after the peak in 1918. In other words, we see 

 how promptly the growth of population tends to regulate 

 itself back towards the normal after even so disturbing 

 an upset as a great war. 



In the United States, the death-birth ratio was not 

 affected at all by the war, though it was markedly altered 

 by the influenza epidemic. The facts are shown in Fig- 

 ure 59 for the only years for which data are available. 



