340 



THE TREND OF THE RACE 



In Italy the death rates of the four largest cities fall below that 

 of the Kingdom. The death rates of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and 

 The Hague average lower than that of Holland, and those of 

 Petrograd and Moscow lower than that of Russia in general. 



The favorable showing made by European cities in comparison 

 with the country is, however, deceptive. While the reduction of 

 the death rate in cities, is mainly due to improved hygiene and 

 sanitation and while cities often afford advantages in the form of 

 superior education and better medical aid that tend to reduce the 

 death rate more than in the country, their relatively lower death 

 rate is largely the result of their different age composition. Tak- 

 ing the large cities of Germany as an example, the age composi- 

 tion as compared with the rest of the empire was in 1900, accord- 

 ing to Ballod, as follows: 



Age Composition of Cities and Country in Germany 



The relatively small number of children and old people in 

 cities, and the large proportion of people in the most healthful 

 period of life naturally tend to lower the death rate relatively 

 more than in the country. That the favorable showing of cities is 

 largely due to their age composition is shown by the fact that 

 when we consider the average mortality of the corresponding 

 ages of life in urban and rural communities the urban mortality 

 generally exceeds the rural. This will be clear in the case of 

 Germany by comparing the following table with the previous 



ones. 



