View report page

The total population of Bermondsey for 1916 has been esti
mated by the Registrar-General as 123,665. This is approximately
the number I would have estimated on the basis of the
decrease shown by the census of 1901 and 1911 had there been
no war, and this figure has been utilized in estimating the birthrate.
The civil population has been estimated by the Registrar-
General as 113,661, based on the National Register in conjunction
with the two last census enumerations. He says: —" The
figures of the total population are based on the assumption that
the ratio between the total and the civilian population is the
same in the borough as in England and Wales as a whole." If
these figures are correct or even approximate it means that about
10,000 men from Bermondsey have joined the forces. Unfortunately
we have no way of checking these figures, and if one
may judge by the difficulty of getting house accommodation here,
the replacement of the absent husbands and brothers by lodgers
who have come to be near their work, and the enormous increase
in personnell of factories doing war work, I fancy that the figures
quoted above are, if anything, under the mark. They are, however,
not only the best, but the only figures we have, so any
statistics given in this report must be accepted with a certain
amount of reserve, and will to some extent be corrected after the
war when more reliable data are available.
As stated above the total population has been used in calculating
the births and marriage rates, since the men in the forces
have participated in it, but the smaller figure of the civil population
has been used for the death rates as no deaths in the forces.
Births.
The total number of births registered in the Borough for the 52
weeks ended December 30th, 1916, was 3,361, consisting of 1,708
males and 1,653 females. This is 534 below the average for the
last 10 years, and 121 below the figure for 1915.
In Table 11. of the Appendix will be seen the figures for the
last 10 years in the three registration sub-districts, and in Table
I. figures for the whole Borough.
The birth-rate for 1916, calculated on the "total population."
was 27.1 per thousand persons living, which is 2.5 below that for
1915 and 3.7. below the average for the last 10 years.