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11
Population
It is estimated that there has been little change in the population
or in its age structure in recent years.
Extracts from the first report on the 1951 Census returns for the
County of London containing some of the more important statistics and
including details of the sex and age distribution of the population
were published as an appendix to the Annual Report for 1953.
Births
The birth rate appears to have become stabilized at about 19, a
figure slightly above that for the country generally,, This is higher
than the prevailing rate of 13.5 in the years before the war and
little below that of 21 and 22 in 1946 and 1947 when the rate was
raised as nearly always occurs after a war by what may be called
'Delayed Births'.
The illegitimate birth rate of 1.4 per thousand of the population
or 72 per thousand live births remains high. This rate is above the
rate for the whole country and shews only a little tendency to fall
from the maximum reached at the end of the war.
Stillbirths
The stillbirth rates have shewn a happy tendency to fall and for
the five year period 1951-1955 were slightly below those for the whole
country at 0,36 per thousand of the population and 19 per thousand
total births. Unfortunately, however, they were rather high though
not unduly so in 1955 when they reached 0.46 and 23.
Deaths
The standardized deaths for 1955 was 10.4 (crude rate 11.3)
which compares favourably with that of 11.7 for England and Wales.
In spite of a discrepancy in the calculation of the rate because
deaths that occur in St. Matthew's Hospital are allocated to Shoreditch,
considerable satisfaction may be felt in this figure particularly
as it has exhibited a downward trend in the last few years.
A suggestion was made by the Registrar General that the significance
of death rates might be brought out more clearly by calculation
of the number of years of expected life lost from particular and all
causes. Such figures were published in the annual reports for 1953