n equal
| Wales. | | | numbers living.
--------+----------+--------+----------+-------------------
1851-60 | 22.2 | 24.7 | 19.9 | 124
1861-70 | 22.5 | 24.8 | 19.7 | 126
1871-80 | 21.4 | 23.1 | 19.0 | 122
1881 | 18.9 | 20.1 | 16.9 | 119
1882 | 19.6 | 20.9 | 17.3 | 121
1883 | 19.5 | 20.5 | 17.9 | 115
1884 | 19.5 | 20.6 | 17.7 | 117
1885 | 19.0 | 19.7 | 17.8 | 111
1886 | 19.3 | 20.0 | 18.0 | 111
1887 | 18.8 | 19.7 | 17.2 | 115
1888 | 17.8 | 20.9 | 17.4 | 114
1889 | 17.9 | 19.3 | 16.4 | 118
1890 | | 20.9 | 17.4 | 120
--------+----------+--------+----------+-------------------

But as matters stand at present the statistics above quoted do not
mark the full extent of the difference of healthfulness in town and
country. When allowance is made for age and sex distribution in town
and country population, the difference in death-rate appears much
greater. For in the towns are found (_a_) a much larger proportion of
females; (_b_) a larger proportion of adults of both sexes in the
prime of life; (_c_) a much smaller proportion of very aged
persons:[276] hence if conditions of health were equal in town and
country, the town death-rate would be lower instead of higher than
that of the country. The _Report of the Census of 1881_[277] calls
special attention to this point, which is commonly ignored in
comparing death-rates of town and country. "If we take the mean
(1871-80) death-rates in England and Wales at each age-period as a
standard, the death-rate in an urban population would be 20.40 per
1000, while the death-rate in the rural population would be 22.83.
Such would be their respective death-rates on the hypothesis that the
urban districts and the rural districts were equally healthy. We know,
however as a matter of fact that urban death-rates, instead of being
lower than rural death-rates, are much higher. The difference of
healthiness, therefore, between the two is much greater than the
difference between their death-rates."

The same facts come out in comparing Paris with the rest of France. At
each age the death-rate for Paris is higher than for France.

Age.[278] Paris. France.
1886. 1877-80.

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