§ Mr. Ashleyasked Secretary of State for Social Services how many deaths there have been from pertussis in children aged under one year in each year since 1950; and if he will express the figure as a percentage of the number of children born in the year.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe information requested is as follows. As the number of deaths in any year is small compared with the number of live births, rates have been calculated per million live births rather than as percentages.
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Whooping cough: deaths of children aged under 1 year and rates per million live births, 1950 to 1981 England and Wales Year Deaths under 1 year Deaths per million live births 1950 277 397.4 1951 273 402.9 1952 111 164.8 1953 167 244.0 1954 95 141.0 1955 60 89.8 1956 63 90.0 1957 68 94.0 1958 18 24.3 1959 16 21.4 1960 26 33.1 1961 19 23.4 1962 18 21.5 1963 29 34.0 1964 32 36.5 1965 15 17.4 1966 22 25.9 1967 24 28.8 1968 15 18.3 1969 4 5.0 1970 13 16.6 1971 22 28.1 1972 2 2.8 1973 2 3.0 1974 12 18.8 1975 11 18.2 1976 1 1.7 1977 5 8.8 1978 10 16.8
Year Deaths under 1 year Deaths per million live births 1979 3 4.7 1980 6 9.1 1981 2 3.2