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16
It will be observed that the inverse relation between birthrate
and standard of comfort is not strictly maintained in the
above series. This is no doubt due, to some extent, to the
fact that certain districts contain workhouses which are resorted
to as lying-in hospitals by women from other districts. The
high illegitimate birth-rate in some of the boroughs can be
partly explained in this way.
The variations in the fertility of the various boroughs are
associated with variations in the marriage-rate, and in the
proportion of wives under twenty-five years of age to the total
population of married women. As we pass from the wealthier
to the poorer boroughs, the marriage-rate rises, and so does
the proportion of young wives. The percentage of wives under
twenty-five to total wives, varies from 9.3 in Hampstead to 17.4
in Stepney. This has an important effect on the birth-rate,
for the fertility of wives under twenty-five is much higher
than in the later age-periods. These differences are set out in
the following table, in which the marriage-rate is calculated
not on the total population but on the unmarried persons at
marriageable ages.