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17
I have already referred to the birth-rate generally and
therefore have only to notice it for this district. The table
shows that the birth-rate was only 30.5 per 1,000 population
against the average of 338 for the 10 years 1876-85 ; 347 for
1871-80; 33.8 for 1861-70; and 31.8 for 1851-60, when the
population of servants to total population was much larger than
at present. The reduced birth-rate is partly owing to the
diminished proportion of marriages, and, probably, partly to
marriages being deferred to a later period of life than previously.
The last report of the Registrar General refers to these subjects
at some length, and perhaps the last named cause acts more
powerfully in Hackney than in London at large, as the proportion
of the labouring class who marry early in life is smaller
than in some other parts of London. The birth-rate in 1883
was 32.3; in 1884, 30.8; in 1885, 30.9; and in 1886, 30.5,
showing the continued decrease in a very marked manner. of
course, if the calculated population be either above or below the
true number, the assigned birth-rates as well as the death-rates
are to that extent erroneous.
The corrected death-rate for the district in 1886, viz.,
17.1, is the lowest I have recorded since I was appointed as
your Medical Officer of Health, that for all London being
19.9, or 0.2 above the rate in 1885. As might have been
expected, the death-rate for the district, as the density of
population increases, and the population becomes more assimulated
to that of London generally is gradually approaching that
for all London, although not so quickly as in some other
suburban districts, thus in 1851-60 the average death-rate in
the Hackney District was 4'7 above that for all London, in
1861-70 it was 4.0 above; in 1871-80, 3 0 above; in 1876-85
also 3.0; whilst in 1886, although so low as 17.1, it was 2.8
per cent above the Metropolitan rate.
The number of deaths of children under 1 year per 1,000
registered births was rather above the average, chiefly in consequence
of the large number of deaths of infants from diarrhœa