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Story: Death rates and life expectancy

Unhealthy city

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Unhealthy city

English statistician William Farr distinguished 'healthy districts' – usually rural areas – from unhealthy places such as big cities. These were seen as overcrowded and filthy, an impression reinforced by images such as this engraving of a slum district in London in 1872.

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Museum of London

by Gustave Dore

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How to cite this page

Ian Pool, Death rates and life expectancy – Recording births and deaths, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/26566/unhealthy-city (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ian Pool, published 19 April 2011.