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CAMIS
Camberwell
PROOF.
Report of the Medical Officer of health.
To The Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Camberwell.
GENTLEMEN,
The population of London for the middle of 1911, as estimated
by the Registrar-General, is 4,521,301. The census being taken at
the beginning of April, it is probable that this figure only exceeds
by very little the actual number, and that for all practical purposes
it may be considered as being accurate.
The number of births actually registered was 111,738, as compared
with 114,870 in 1910, when the birth-rate was estimated at
23.6. The birth-rate for 1911 is estimated at 24.8, an increase of
1.2, but this increase is more apparent than real, for the 1910
calculation was made on an estimated population of 4,872,702, that
is, greater by some 250,000 than the actual enumeration in 1911. It
will be further noticed that there is a recorded decrease of over
3,000 in the number of births registered in London in the year just
past.
When one comes to the death-rate of London as a whole an
increase is again seen, and here there are two factors coming into
action, for, on the one hand, we find the actual population has
been found by enumeration to be considerably less than that which
was estimated, and, on the other, an increase took place in the
registrations of deaths of about 6,000, so it can be regarded as
certain that the death-rate of London as a whole has gone up, while
there has been an actual decrease in the birth-rate.
Attention was drawn in last year's report to the fact that, owing
to the long period which had elapsed since the enumeration of the
population of the various London Boroughs, it was necessary to
view the calculated rates for births and deaths with some considerable
amount of reserve.
The necessity for this caution shows itself when we come to
compare the estimate of the population with the actual numbers
obtained at the census.
The Registrar - General for his purpose estimated that the
population of Camberwell at the middle of 1910 would be 286,058.
Our own estimate, which is calculated on a different basis, gave
279,566; but when, however, the actual enumeration was made in
1911, it was found to be but 261,238. It is therefore apparent that
the birth and death rate as set out in 1910, and, indeed, in all
others since 1901, are erroneous in being too low; but the nearer