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10
Males. Females. Total.
East Battersea 1,057 994 2,051
North-West Battersea 814 764 1,578
South-West Battersea 418 403 821
Borough 2,289 2,161 4,450
The birth-rate, i.e., the number of births per 1,000 of the
population was 23.9, the lowest birth-rate ever recorded in Battersea,
and is 4.0 per 1,000 below the average for the previous ten
years. Thus the birth-rate which appeared to have been
checked in 1908, or at least stationary (the rate for 1908 being
exactly equal to that for 1907, i.e., 25.1) has again shown a considerable
decrease. The fall in the birth-rate in Battersea, in
common with that of the rest of the country, is, as has been pointed
out in previous annual reports, a matter for serious concern. As
the declining birth-rate is accompanied by a decreasing deathrate,
the natural increase in the population (i.e., excess of births
over deaths) is not therefore affected, but the time will come
when the effect of the falling birth-rate must result in a decline
in the population.
The decline in the birth-rate in Battersea, as compared with
that in London and in England and Wales, is shown in the
following table :—

The next table shows the birth-rate in the Borough, and in
each of the sub-districts, during the ten years 1899-1908, and in
1909.