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11
The natural increase of population by excess of births over
deaths during the year amounted to 1,977.
Births.
The total number of births belonging to the Borough of Battersea
during 1911 was 4,381. Of the total births 2,161 were males
and 2,220 females showing an excess of 51 females. The births
were 108 fewer than in 1910 and 782 below the decennial average
1901-1910.

The birth-rate, i.e., the number of births per 1,000 of the
population, was 26·1, as compared with 23·7 in 1910. It should be
remembered, however, that the rate during that of previous intercensal
years was calculated on the estimated population of the
Registrar-General, which is now shown to have been high, and that
consequently the decline in the birth-rate in the Borough has not
been so marked during the past live years, as shown by this method
of calculation. There has been, of course, in Battersea as in England
and Wales, and, in fact, in almost all civilised countries, a
serious decline in the birth-rate during the past three decades.
The causes responsible for this unsatisfactory state of things have
been referred to in previous Annual Reports. While it is satisfactory
to note that the birth-rate in Battersea, as shown in the following
table has not declined to the extent that appeared from the
method of calculation adopted, it is still sufficiently serious to be a
matter for concern.
In the sub-districts the birth-rates during 1911 were as follows:
East Battersea, 27·5; North-West Battersea, 32·3; South-West
Battersea, 17·8.
The decline in the birth-rate in Battersea as compared with
that in England and Wales is shown in the following table:—