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18
BIRTHS.
During the year 1,199 births were registered in Hampstead, a
decrease of 71 as compared with the number—1,270—registered in the
previous year. Of the total births 593 were of male and 606 of female
children. In addition, 80 births of children whose mothers were
Hampstead residents occurred in the principal lying-in institutions in
other metropolitan boroughs, and three of the births registered in
Hampstead belonged to other districts, and should be deducted from
the total. After these corrections have been made, the total number of
births belonging to Hampstead is found to be 1,276, and, in accordance
with the practice of the Registrar-General, I have taken this number
as a basis for the various rates that depend on the number of births
occurring during the year.
Illegitimate Births.—Out of the total of 1,199 births registered
in Hampstead, 37, or 29 per 1000 were those of illegitimate children.
Birth-Rate.
The birth-rate calculated on the number of births registered in
the Borough was 14'0 per 1000 of the population, as compared with
the rate of 15-7 per 1000 in 1910, and 16'2, the average for the years
1906—1910. But when the birth-rate is calculated on the total number
of births belonging to Hampstead, including those that took place
without as well as within the Borough and excluding' those taking
o O
place in the Borough but belonging to other districts, the rate is found
to be 14*9. This is the lowest birth-rate ever recorded in Hampstead,
the lowest rate in any previous year being 15.6 in 1909.
The highest birth-rate recorded in Hampstead was in the year
1878, when the rate was 24.5. Since then the rate has steadily
declined. In England and Wales there has also been a marked
reduction in the birth-rate, but the Hampstead figures show a greater
proportionate decline.