M
250
HAMBURG.
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1900, 30*2 ; 1901, 29 1 ; 1902, 28'2 ; 1903 and 1904, 27 1 ; and 1905, 26 8.
The rate for the town alone was 25*8 per 1,000 in 1905, against 25*2 in 1904.
The death-rate in the town has fallen from 17 3 per 1,000 in 1896 to 15*8
in 1905. The highest rate in 1905 occurred in the working-class district of
Barmbeck, viz., 21*9 per 1,000, and districts of the Old Town, 19*9 per 1,000 ;
while the residential suburbs of Harvestehude and Rotherbaum had rates of 9*3
and 10 4 per 1,000 respectively. The rate of infant mortality in 1905 was 174
per 1,000 births against 167 in 1904. It formed 28 3 per cent, of the total
deaths in 1905, against 27'5 per cent, in 1904, 27*7 in 1903, 25*2 in 1902, and
32-4 in 1901.
The following Table gives the birth and death rates and the infantile
mortality rates of Hamburg for a period of five years :—
Year.
Birth rate per 1,000
of population.
Death rate per 1,000
of population.
Infantile mortality
per 1,000 births.
1901
1902
1903
1901
1905
27-9
27 1
261
252
25-8
17-1
16 4
16 7
15 3
15-8
199
152
178
167
174
The deaths from pulmonary consumption were 1 *55 per 1,000 of the
population in 1905, while the deaths from tuberculosis of all kinds gave a rate
•of 2 per 1,000 inhabitants. The highest rate of mortality from consumption in
1905 occurred in the northern portion of the Old Town, viz., 2'06 per 1,000
inhabitants, comparing with a minimum rate of 0*34 per 1,000 in the
Harvestehude residential suburb.
Altona has a slightly higher birth-rate than Hamburg, viz., 26 2 per 1,000
in 1905, and the decline since 1896 has been less, for the rate then was 33'7
against 35 1 in Hamburg (the whole State). The death-rate of Altona in 1905
was 16*5 per 1,000 against 15*8 in Hamburg, and the infant mortality rate was
179 per 1,000 births against 174 in Hamburg, but here, too, there has been a
steady improvement during recent years.
A Table is appended giving the birth and death rates and the infant
mortality rates of Altona for a series of years : —
Year.
Birth rate per 1,000
of population
Death rate per 1,000
of population.
Infantile mortality
per 1,000 births.
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
307
29-7
27 5
27 5
26-2
194
16-9
17 1
16 7
16-5
236
155
184
183
179
Both at Hamburg and Altona various organisations outside the Poor Law
endeavour more or less successfully to cope with the problems of disease and
poverty. In the interest of infants there are free dispensaries and creches ; a
forest sanatorium for consumptive children from the elementary schools is conducted
in a healthy neighbourhood an hour distant ; there are Holiday Colonies
for the children of poor parents ; while, for the benefit of the labouring classes,
there are labour registries, cheap lodging-houses, shelters for the homeless,
people’s kitchens and coffee-houses, and societies which help needy tenants to
pay their rents.
Occupations, Wages, and Hours of Labour.
In Hamburg, industry is secondary to the shipping trade ; in Altona,
industry predominates, and the shipping trade is relatively insignificant. In
1905 the " industrial workpeople ” of the Free State, as enumerated by the
Factory Inspector, formed 7*3 per cent, of the entire population, while the
corresponding percentage in Altona in 1906 was 10*3 per cent. The ratio in
Berlin was 12*5 per cent.
