THE GEOGRAPHY OF DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

Death rate variations for the United Kingdom and the United States are spatially compared by means of maps. The data mapped include death rates from all causes, and infant mortality. In the United Kingdom, the association between high death rates and areas of industrialization, exploitation, and dense population is very marked. Such an association is somewhat less definite in the United States where the high rates associate more easily with areas of poor socio-economic circumstances such as Indian reservations, Spanish-American districts, and most particularly, the high-proportion Negro areas of the South. In both countries, however, longevity in rural areas and in urban places of limited industry is likely to be greater than in areas not having these attributes. The quality of biostatistics in the United Kingdom has been superior to the United States. The recently launched National Health Survey, however, promises to greatly improve the biostatistic position of the United States. The special contribution of medical geography is the mapping technique and the interpretations which potentially it allows. At the national scale the sensitivity limits of such an approach must be recognized and there can be no simple explanation of apparent mortality patterns. Such maps as these are designed to focus on areas where detailed studies may be of benefit in substantiating cause-and-effect relationships.

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