Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1949, Blaðsíða 296
Public Health in Iceland 1949. — A Summary.
1. In 1949 the climatic conditions were unfavourable. The mean
temperature of the air was average. The rainfall was just below the
average. During the summer months the sunshine in Reykjavík (on
the southern coast of the country) was of 174 hours’ shorter, in
Akureyri (on the northern coast) of 48 hours’ longer duration than
the average of 20 and 15—17 summers respectively.
A continuous difficulty as regards the foreign exchange situation
and prices rising higher and higher distressed industry and trade,
and unemployment, practically unknown since before the war, now
began to tap at the door.
2. Population, Births and Deaths. The population was on December
31st 1949: 141042 including Reykjavík 54707 (1948: 138502 and
53384). The estimated midijear population was 139772 (137219).
The marriage rate was 7.7 (8.5), the birth rate 27,8 (27,8) and the
death rate 7,9 (8,1) per 1000 inhabitants. Infant mortalitg was 23,7
(26,2) per 1000 born alive. The death rate of the year is the lowest
on record, the last years death rate being the next lowest (8,1 per
1000). The lowest infant mortality figure ever registered is 22,4 per
1000 live-births (1946).
3. Causes of Death are shown on pp. 12—18.
The following ten are the most common:
Per 1000 of of the
Number deaths population
Cancer — Malignant Growths 190 171,8 1,4
Old Age 169 152,8 1,2
Diseases of the Heart 149 134,7 1,1
Apoplexy 140 126,6 1,0
Violence (all forms) 75 67,8 0,5
Pneumonia (Lobar and Lobular) 67 60,6 0,5
Diseases of Infants 50 45,2 0,4
Tuberculosis (all forms) Arteriosclerosis outside the Coronal Arteries, and 36 32,5 0.3
Nephrosclerosis and Apoplexy Excepted 19 17,2 0,1
Influenza, Asthma, Hyperplasia of Prostate (each) 10 9,0 0,1
Other and Unknown Causes 201 181,8 1,4
4. Epidemic Diseases. The incidence of epidemic diseases in 1949
is shown in tables II, III and IV, 1—27.