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15 [1905
BIRTHS.
The births registered in the year numbered 8,890 and were in the
proportion of 25.52 to 1,000 persons living in the Borough.
Compared with the mean birth rate of the decennial period 1895-1904,
that of 1905 showed a deficiency of 2.48 per 1,000. In addition to this, the
rate was the lowest experienced in the borough for 59 years, for it is necessary
to go back to 1842 to find such a low return in proportion to the population,
at which period it was 25.28. The Islington rate was also lower than that of
England and Wales, which was 27.2; of the 76 great towns, which was 28.2;
and of the 140 smaller towns, which was 26.9.
The decrease in the birth rate of the country, as pointed out in previous
reports, has caused considerable anxiety, but notwithstanding all that has
been written about it, no improvement seems likely to take place. The later
period of life at which men and women marry, the employment of women in
industrial occupations, and, indeed, in professional capacities, have without
doubt had a considerable effect in the diminishing the nativity, apart from the
fact, of which there cannot be any possible doubt, that means for preventing
conception are now very largely and systematically used, and that prudential
restraint has had its effect.
If we turn to the figures for the sub-districts in Islington, which will be
found in Table XII., it will be found that those districts which are the most
affluent show the least birth rate, while those on the contrary that are occupied
by persons in less fortunate circumstances show a larger number of births in
proportion to the population.
It is hardly possible to consider the present low birth rate as a mere
passing event, or that one can look forward hopefully to an increase in the birth
rate, and as this fact can hardly be controverted in view of what is occurring in
nearly every civilized country, attention has been more and more concentrated on
the possibility of saving a large proportion of infants who die annually before
they attain the age of 12 months. This endeavour is the only good feature
about the ever diminishing births in the community.
Sex.—The males born numbered 4,435, and the females 4,321, the former
being to the latter in the proportion of 97.4 to 100.