"1950 Vital Statistics"

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Charleston, WV 25301-3701
304-558-9100

Public Health Statistics of West Virginia
1950
Publication

This is the second in a series of historical vital statistics publications available on the web. The first document was Summary Public Health Statistics of West Virginia 1919~1947. As time permits, we hope to make available the 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990 Vital Statistics publications in PDF format. Unfortunately, resources only allow us to present these in the simplest of formats.

By reviewing the statistics in this report, we can identify some of the public health successes that were achieved during the second half of the 20th century. Of particular interest are the cause of death statistics in 1950 compared to today. You will notice that infectious diseases are still prominent in the listings.

On page 3 of the report the following statement was made concerning the overall death rate in 1950: "This death rate of 8.7 deaths per 1,000 population is the lowest rate recorded for West Virginia since the State was admitted to the Death Registration area in 1925 and there are indications that it may now be at its irreducible low point and that the further advancement that is made in the control of contagious diseases will be more than offset by the increasing number of deaths due to degenerative causes and old age." This prognostication proved to be accurate. The death rate has continued to rise since 1950, and in 2000 was 11.7 deaths per 1,000 population.

Table of Contents

POPULATION TABLES

• Narrative and title page 250 kb
• Population, Birth, Death, and Cause of Death Tables 263 kb
• County Vital Statistics 751 kb
• Cities Greater than 10,000 Vital Statistics 150 kb