London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Islington 1906
Fifty-first annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington
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35
[1900
about 17 per cent. of the decline of the birth-rate (based on the proportion of
births to the female population aged 15-45 years) is due to the decrease in the
proportion of married women in the female population of conceptive ages, and
about 10 per cent. is due to the decrease in illegitimacy. With regard to the
remaining 75 per cent. of the decrease, although a proportion of the reduced
fertility may be ascribed to the changes in the age constitutions of married
women, there can be little doubt that the greater part of it is due to deliberate
restriction of child bearing on the part of the people themselves.
These remarks, made with respect to the country, are equally applicable
to Islington, where, without doubt, the same factors are at work in lowering
the birth-rate.
The following statement gives for comparative purposes the birth-rate for the country as well as for some of the most populous places:—
| England and Wales | 27.0 per thousand living. |
| 76 Great Towns | 27.8 „ |
| „ „ less London | 28.3 „ |
| 142 Smaller Towns | 26.5 „ |
| London | 26.5 „ |
| Birmingham | 29.4 „ |
| Liverpool | 32.7 „ |
| Manchester | 29.3 „ |
| Leeds | 26.2 „ |
| Sheffield | 29.9 „ |
| Bristol | 25.9 „ |
| St. Pancras | 26.0 „ |
| Stoke Newington | 20.8 „ |
| Hackney | 24.7 „ |
| Hornsey | 18.3 „ |
| Finsbury | 30.2 „ |
| Shoreditch | 34.2 „ |
| The Encircling Districts | 26.2 ,, |
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