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5
POPULATION, INHABITED HOUSES, &c.
The population of Kensington which in 1871, my first year
of office, was 120,299, increased to 163,151 in 1881, and to
166,308 in 1891. The inhabited houses which numbered
15,735 in 1871, and 20,103 in 1881, were 22,002 in 1891.
The falling-off in the rate of increase of population
between 1881 and 1891, as compared with the two
previous decennial periods, is remarkable. It is noteworthy,
however, that there was an increase of about 1900 in the
number of inhabited houses between 1881 and 1891, which
might reasonably have been taken as an indication of a population-increase
of not less than 15,000, whereas the enumerated
increase but little exceeded the fifth of that number. As already
intimated, I feel bound to accept the Census figures for statistical
purposes, and I therefore assume—both for the ten years
1881-91, and as an estimate for the current decennium commencing
in 1891—an annual increase of 300 persons only, notwithstanding
thatthe average yearly excess of births over deaths
in the ten years, 1881-91 was 1356: this assumption therefore
involves an annual loss of over 1,000 by migration duringthe ten
years, 1881-91. On this basis it is assumed that the population
at the middle of 1893 numbered 167,000, and that there was
a loss to the Parish of 445 persons in the year by migration.
The density of the population was 76.2 persons per acre, the
number of persons to a house being 7.57 (against 8.08 in 1881)
and the inhabited houses being 22,050. The estimated population
of the Town sub-district was 118,900, that of Brompton
being 48,100. The males numbered 65,950 : the females were
101,050, and therefore upwards of 35,000 in excess; the excess in
1871 having been 22,000 only. The increase in this excess
between 1881 and 1891 was 2664, or only 493 less than the
enumerated increase of population in the ten years (3170) a
remarkable and inexplicable fact, seeing that the male births
(20,464) exceeded the female births (19,794) by 670 in the
ten completed years 1881-90.