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17
The following table shows the social classification in relation to
registered births, to registered infant deaths, to notified stillbirths and
to notified premature births, an extra line being added to each group to
indicate the percentages. Apart from the registered births the figures
are too small to be significant, but they will build up over the course
of years; the percentages in the category of registered births can be
compared with those for the registered deaths shown in table 5.

Quite apart from any connection with births or deaths, the
percentages shown for registered births in table 8 and those shown for
registered deaths in table 5 are interesting. The parents of newborn
babies probably average 25-30 years of age and are divided amongst
the social classes as to 1 in 25 in class I, 1 in 7 in class II, 3 out of 5 in
class III, 1 in 7 in class IV, and 1 in 14 in class V. People dying in the
borough, who probably average about 65 years of age, are divided
amongst the social classes as to 1 in 25 for class I, 1 in 6 in class II,
1 in 2 in class III, 1 in 7 in class IV and 1 in 8 in class V. In other
words, while the percentages in classes I, II and IV remain about the
same there is a greater percentage in class III amongst the births and
a greater percentage in class V among the deaths. This is a little
surprising, and it will be interesting to see if figures in subsequent
years bear it out. There is roughly a 40-year gap between the two
groups and one would have thought that the birth classifications would
have shown a somewhat lower social status than the deaths. But of course
there have been other factors concerned—for example the difference
in social status on a national scale, the local differences due to the growth
of the borough and the differing local occupations, and so on, quite
apart from possibilities like differences in the reproduction rates in the
social classes.