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27
BIRTHS
The total number of live births registered in the Borough during
the year was 1,423 and of this number, 815 occurred in St. Alfege's
Hospital, 130 in various Nursing Homes and 478 in private dwellings.
In 580 cases the parents resided outside the Borough and the births
were consequently transferred to the appropriate districts, leaving
a figure of 843. To this must be added 650 births belonging to the
Borough which took place in Institutions outside the Borough, thus
making a final figure for Greenwich of 1,493, a decrease of 59 from
that of the previous year. Of this total 804 were males and 689
females.
The Birth Rate for the year, calculated on the figure of 1,493
births, is 16.72 per thousand of the population, 1.04 lower than that
for 1949. The average rate for the previous ten years is 19.24.
The Greenwich Comparability Factor for births is 0.93 which gives
an adjusted rate of 15.55.
The Rates for the County of London and for England and Wales
are 17.8 and 15.8 respectively, showing relative decreases of 0.7 and
0.9 from the figures for 1949.
Illegitimate Births numbered 61, a decrease of 8 from those of
the previous year and representing 4.1 per cent of the total live
births.
The number of Still Births registered was 26, which is equivalent
to a rate of 18.4 per 1,000 total births, an increase of 3.18 over
that of the previous year.
From the inception of the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich
in 1900 there has been a gradual fall in the Birth Rate which could
be described as being of a 'switch-back' nature, each succeeding
rise and fall being lower than that of the previous one.
In 1901, the Births were at a yearly rate of 28.94 per 1,000 of
the population and this figure has subsequently proved to be the
highest in the Borough's 50 years existence. From 1901 the rate,
declining in 1910 to 21.41, rose in 1913 to 26.09, but by 1918 it had
fallen to 16.88. However, the 1920 figure of 24.67 showed a sharp
rise, but from then on there was a gradual yearly decline until 1938,
at which time the Birth Rate was 13.64. The following year saw
another rise culminating in a rate of 23.61 in 1947 from which year
there is evidence of a decline similar to that of the early 1900's and
which was repeated in the late '20's and early '30's.