An interesting find...

[Tom Tom]

They would have gone to Ashby Workhouse.

I think for the purposes of generalisation it is OK. We can discuss later on how things may have been different - people moving away to a workhouse etc.

The primary objective for this particular task is to collect data, draw the graph and compare graphs.

[Asa]

I always find this sort of thing fascinating - probably like most people I have very defined rural lines and very defined city lines and I do notice the contrast.

[Olde Crone]

Am I missing something? Surely you also need to know what the population was of each area before you can draw any conclusions?

I agree though - fascinating stuff and a wonderful opportunity for introducing a bit of social history as well.

OC

[Tom Tom]

If you were doing it as a proper full on statistical analysis then yes you would need to know more details OC, but for ten year olds it is a simple comparison of two data sets to get to the conclusion that life and death was very different in the country to in the cities.
It is for that reason the number of each is the same, but a sample has been done from the city as it would be difficult for 9 year olds to sort and analyse data from over 4000 people.

[Mary from Italy]

It might also be interesting to look at a sample from 100 years earlier - my impression from rural villages relating to my tree is that there were more infant deaths, but about the same number of over-80s.