South Lakeland Health Improvement Plan - NHS Cumbria

1.3. Infant MortalityInfant mortality refers to the number of babies dying aged less than one yearold compared to the total number of live births. The infant mortality rate inSouth Lakeland in 2007 was 5.1 (per 1000 births). This is comparable to theEngland average of 4.9 but is higher than the Cumbrian average of 4.4.1.4. Low Birth Weight BabiesBirth weight is an important indicator of infant health and low birth weight islinked to perinatal death. A baby identified as low birth weight is born weighingless than 2500 grams. Nationally 7.5% of pregnancies result in a low birthweight baby. Cumbria is below the national average with a figure of 6.6% andSouth Lakeland falls below this with a value of 5.7%.2. EthnicityTable 2.1 is taken from the 2001 census and shows ethnic group and culturalbackground. Raw counts and percentage of the population are given andCumbria and Lancashire are grouped together.In South Lakeland, 99.2% of the population is classed as ‘White British’which is considerably higher than the national figure of 91.3% and also higherthan the regional figure of 94.9%. The top 3 ethnic groups in South Lakelandare all classified as White (British, Irish and Other) whilst for the Cumbria andLancashire region Asian ethnicities comprise the other highest ethnic groups,representing 4% of the population.Interestingly, the largest ethnic minority group in England and Wales IsAsian Indian making up 4% of the population; however in South Lakeland thisgroup represents less than 1% (0.1%) of the population. The largest ethnicminority group in South Lakeland is Chinese which represents 0.2% of thepopulation and many ethnic groups in the district are classed as representing0% of the population.South Lakeland is therefore much less ethnically diverse than theEngland average as well as Cumbria and Lancashire.Table 2.1) Ethnicity - 2001 Census. Source: ONS (2001)England and Wales Cumbria and Lancashire South LakelandCount % Count % Count %White (British/Irish/Other) 47,520,866 91.3 1805477 94.9 101481 99.2Mixed(White/Caribbean/African/Asian/Other) 661,034 1 10,883 1 374 0Asian or Asian British(Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Other 2,273,737 4 76,267 4 104 0.1Black or Black British(Caribbean/African/Other) 1,139,577 2 3,481 0 89 0Chinese 226948 0.4 4105 0.2 175 0.2Other Ethnic Group 219754 0.4 2121 0.1 78 0.1All People 45753495 100 1776332 100 99888 100South Lakeland Baseline Assessment 2009 10