AUTHORITIES' RESPONSIBILITIES : DISCUSSION 139 



1891-1900, and 1901-1910, and during the years 1911 and 

 1912. 



INFANT MORTALITY, IRELAND. 



Both sexes 



97 

 95 



Periods 

 18711880 

 18811890 

 1891 1900 

 I9OI 1910 



1911 ... 



1912 ... 



Males 

 I0 4 

 I O2 

 112 

 IO4 

 101 



97 



Females 

 8 9 



86 



95 

 87 

 86 

 76 



104 

 96 



94 



86 



From these figures it will be seen that in all the periods 

 the death-rate of males has been higher than that of females. 

 Also that the male death-rate has been over 100 except- 

 ing in last year, whereas the female death-rate for 

 the same periods only on one occasion exceeded 90. It is 

 also seen that the rate for both sexes fell from 97 per 1,000 

 during the period 1871-1880 to 95 in 1881-1890, and then 

 went up considerably in the next period (1891-1900), viz., 

 to 104, having fallen to 96 in the period 1901-1910. In the 

 year 1911 the infant mortality was 94, and fell last year to 

 86, the lowest recorded rate since registration of deaths was 

 introduced in 1864. 



The next statement deals with the urban districts, the 

 Dublin registration area, and Belfast city, showing the 

 number of deaths of infants under i year of age per 1,000 

 births registered during the decennial periods 1881-1890, 

 1891-1900, 1901-1910, and the years 1911 and 1912. 



Infant mortality Rate per 1,000 births. 

 Periods 



1891 I9CO 

 I9OI I9IO 

 I9II ...... 



1912 



NOTE. The figures here given relate to the areas as constituted in the 

 respective periods. 



These figures are, I regret to say, high. They show 

 that the highest death-rate for the urban districts and 

 Belfast city was for the period 1891-1900, and from that 

 period to the present there has been a steady decline; last 

 year being the lowest on record for the urban districts 

 and for Belfast with the exception of that for 1911, the rate 

 for which was one less than that recorded for 1912. 



In the case of the Dublin registration area the highest 

 rate for any of the decennial periods was in 1881-1890, 

 namely, 175, falling slightly to 172 in 1891-1900; in the 

 period 1901-10 the rate was 152, in 1911 it was 156, falling 



