Statistical observations on death-rates and causes of death in Korea.

In this paper the author analyses the death-rates and causes of death for Korea during the period 1938-42 according to main groups of diseases, certain specific diseases, age-groups, and seasonal distribution. He finds that the mortality curves by age and by sex do not differ markedly from the typical curves. The relative importance of main groups of diseases is, however, unusual; the most important groups are, in that order, diseases of the digestive system, diseases of the respiratory system, diseases of the nervous system and sense organs, and infective and parasitic diseases. Taking racial and regional differences into account, he attributes this fact to a low standard of hygiene and sanitation in Korea.While it is difficult to compute the death-rate for infants in Korea with complete accuracy, it may be said that the main causes of death during the first year of life there are pneumonia, meningitis, diarrhoea and enteritis, and measles.Calculated on the basis of the available statistics, tuberculosis mortality in Korea is unexpectedly lower than that in other Asiatic countries, the death-rate from all forms of this disease fluctuating between 1 and 10 per 10 000 population. There is, however, reason to believe that this is due to under-reporting as a result of incorrect diagnoses.Although each disease has its peculiar seasonal distribution, the general death-rate in Korea is highest in March and lowest in November.