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 
No. per 1,000 Inhabitants|Under 16 yrs... 16-30 30-50 | 50-70 |over 70 yrs. 
In large cities.......... 305 301 264 III 19 
In rest of Empire...... 380 234 226 131 29 
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. 
