Template:Nhsc-v1-54

From GrassrootWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

From 1960 to 1965, the birth rate went from 31.3 to 27.3, while the death rate continued its decline from 16.3 to 5.5 (see Table 27). Since the figures on birth and death rates that appear in Table 27 refer to all residents in Hawaii (not just native Hawaiians) it will be helpful to keep in mind the composition of the population during the time covered in the table (1848 through 1965). 67/ The birth and death rates from the period of 1848 to 1884 occurred during a decline in the proportion of full-Hawaiians from greater than 95 percent of the population to less than 50 percent, and a further decline to less than two percent in 1965 (concomitant with a decline in the overall death rate). At the same time, there was a gradual increase in the part-Hawaiian population from less than two percent in 1848 to about 15 percent in 1965.

The death rate for the State of Hawaii did not decrease much from 1965—the death rate in 1980 was 5.0, compared to 5.5 in 1965. 68/ The birth rate declined from 27.3 in 1965 to 18.6 in 1980 for the State population as a whole. 69/

Infant Mortality

Extraordinary improvement in the overall infant mortality rate in Hawaii occurred during this century— from 119 deaths per 1,000 births in 1924 to 10 deaths per 1,000 by 1980. Throughout most of this period, however, Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians continued to display mortality rates higher than the average. For example, in 1970 full-Hawaiians had an infant mortality rate of 65, compared to 22 for part-Hawaiians, and 19 for the State as a whole (see Table 28).

Only the accompanying high birth rates among native Hawaiians off-set infant mortality and permitted the population to increase. These high birth rates also created an age distribution that was heavily weighted toward a young population; a trend that continues today (see above, page 41).

The high infant death rates for Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians compared to other ethnic groups in Hawaii continues. According to the Hawaii State Department of Health: "The infant death rate of part-Hawaiians was significantly higher during the five-year period of 1977-1981 than that of Caucasians, Chinese, Filipino and Japanese. The confidence limits on the small races were so broad that their rates for that period cannot be considered significantly different from any of the larger racial groups." 70/ Table 29 shows that the infant death rate for part-Hawaiians during this period was 13.8, compared to 8.9 for Caucasians, 7.0 for Chinese, 9.2 for Filipinos, 8.8 for Japanese, and 10.5 for the "all races" group.

Table 3 0 presents comparative figures for characteristics of births in Hawaii in 1980. Part-Hawaiians have a relatively high birth rate higher than full-Hawaiians, which foreshadows the trend already indicated for an increasing part- Hawaiian population. Full- and part- Hawaiians have a similar male/female birth ratio. Part- and full-Hawaiian infants have low birth weights 7.4 percent of the time, compared to 11.8 percent for Japanese and 9.3 percent for the Filipino group. Part- Hawaiians, followed by full-Hawaiians, have an extremely high ratio of illegitimate births.

Life Expectancy

Life expectancy patterns for the nineteenth century in Hawaii are not available. However, by 1910 enough reliable data had been collected to make this kind of statistical extrapolation possible. These projections reveal that native Hawaiians exhibited

-p54-