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13
The birth-rate, i.e., the number of births per 1,000 of the
inhabitants at all ages, was 25.1 per 1,000. This is the lowest
birth-rate ever recorded in Battersea, and is 4.0 below the
average for the previous ten years. The birth-rate for Battersea
(Parish and Borough) has been in recent years steadily
declining. During the ten years 1875-1884 it was usually over
40 per 1,000, and reached its highest point in 1884, when it
was no less than 43.4 per 1,000. During the last twenty years,
however, there has been a steady and remarkable decline. This
decline in the birth-rate is not peculiar to Battersea alone, but
is general all over the country, and the same feature
characterises the birth-rates in almost all civilised countries.
That this decrease is even greater than appears at first sight,
is manifest when it is remembered that side by side with the
declining birth-rate is an equally remarkable decrease in the
death-rate.
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 1897-1906 and
in 1907.