No. 4.] HEALTH ON THE FARM. 73 



Sweden. Australia and New Zealand have a decidedly lower 

 death rate, while Germany, France, Italy and Austria have a 

 much higher death rate, and Spain, Hungary and Chile a still 

 higher mortality. In Chile, in 1912, the death rate was 28 per 

 thousand, while in Spain it was over 22 per thousand, and in 

 Hungary almost 25 per thousand. Our country as a whole, 

 therefore, belongs to the healthier communities. It is interest- 

 ing to know that in Bulgaria, which has been featured as one 

 of the most healthy countries in the world, the figures, in so far 

 as they are available, show a death rate very much higher than 

 in the United States, rising in 1901-05 to 22.5 per thousand. 



The question presents itself at this point as to whether 

 there are any diseases which are peculiarly fatal in the rural 

 districts as distinct from cities. This we can answer in a 

 general way by taking the figures for some of the more fatal 

 diseases. The deaths from typhoid fever in the registration 

 States for 1913 amounted to 10,393; of these, 4,697 occurred 

 in cities and 5,696 in rural districts. These figures do not 

 have their full significance unless compared with the respective 

 numbers of people living in the urban and rural districts.^ 

 Thus it is seen that in proportion to the number of inhabitants, 

 typhoid fever is far more fatal in the country than it is in the 

 city. In Massachusetts, however, the number of deaths from 

 typhoid fever in the cities was 238, while in the rural districts 

 it was only 41 (169).2 



In regard to tuberculosis, the total number of deaths in the 

 registration States was 84,346, of which 47,549 were in cities 

 and 36,797 in rural districts. In Massachusetts the total 

 number of deaths in cities was 3,864, and in rural districts 

 1,253 (4,636). 



Diphtheria and croup caused in the registration States 

 10,604 deaths,' of which 6,324 were in cities and 4,280 in rural 

 districts. In Massachusetts diphtheria and croup caused 548 

 deaths in cities and 79 (292) deaths in rural districts. 



The total number of deaths caused by measles in the regis- 

 tration States for 1913 was 7,553, of which 3,962 occurred in 



' Urban population in 1913, 29,244,160; rural population in 1913, 29,068,435. 



2 The urban population of Massachusetts is 2,764,797, and the rural population is 783,908. To 

 compare rural with urban deaths multiply rural by 3.7. The results are indicated by the num- 

 bers in parentheses. 



