OCR Text |
Show For 1974 Vital Stastics for Utah The Utah rates for 1974 are based on a population of 1,174,000 as estimated by the Utah Population Work Committee. Additional information may be obtained from the Bureau of, Health Statistics of the Division of Health according to Dr. Olsen. Thirty Thousand (30,000) new residents of Utah were born in 1974 according to information released by the Utah State Division of Health. According to Lyman J. Olsen, M.D. Director of the Division this is the highest number of births ever reported in Utah and represents a crude birth rate of 26.0 births per 1,000 population. This is 75 percent higher than the national rate of 14.8 per 1,000 population. The number of deaths declined for the first time in five years from 7,576 in 1973 to 7,400 in 1974. This is a rate of 6.3 deaths per 1,000 population, the lowest rate Utah has had in the past ten years and compares to a national rate of 9.2 per 1,000 population. The number of marriages increased slightly to about 15,000 with the rate (12.8) remaining nearly constant with 1973 (12.9) This is still considerably higher than the national marriage rate of 10.6 per 1,000 population. The number and rate of divorce continues to increase in Utah (5,600.. .4.8) and nationally (956,000... 4.51. Rates per 1,000 population are referred to as "crude" rates becuse they may be misleading. A great deal of the difference in the death rate for Utah and the U.S. can be explained because of the larger proportion of the Utah population in the younger ages where the chance of dying is much less. The same differences in age at least partially accounts for the higher marriage rate in Utah. Factors other than age, such as cultural beliefs, legal requirements, etc. also effect differences in vital statistics rates. Therefore, differences in crude vital statistics rates should be interpreted with caution. |