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i.e. the birth rate. Clearly this is not an accurate calculation of
"fertility" since the population figure used contains males and also
females outside child-bearing age, but the birth rate does give, in a
convenient way, the gross rate of increase of the population by births.
Fertility varies not only with age, marriage and its duration but
also with occupation and social class, with area of residence (urban
or rural) and with religion and several other factors. Some attempt
at correction for variations is made by the Registrar-General with
his "area comparability factor". Nevertheless, although future
fertility depends upon past fertility, this official "correction" is
unable to take account of human volition and, nowadays, the
position is further complicated by the fact that contraception is
becoming widespread throughout all classes. Long-term forecasts of
population changes inevitably become unreliable.
However, determinations of fertility and therefore of future
population are of vital importance to governments for the framing of
policies in connection with family and other allowances, to hospitals
for the provision of adequate and suitable facilities, to local authorities
who may wish to plan maternity services, nurseries, schools,
housing, etc., and to the Medical Officer of Health who needs to
know and to gauge the effect of these variables upon the health of
the public, generally.
Live births registered in the Borough during the year totalled
4,963 and of this number 4,111 occurred in hospitals and 852 in
private dwellings. In 1,915 cases the parents resided outside the
Borough and these births were subsequently transferred to their
appropriate districts leaving a figure of 3,048. To this must be added
687 births belonging to this Borough which took place in institutions
outside the Borough, thus making a final total for Greenwich of
3,715, a decrease of 7 from that calculated for the previous year.
Of the total, 1,928 were males and 1,787 females, a proportion of
1,078 males to 1,000 females.