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34
General
The term "statistics" covers all types of numerical descriptions
of social, economic and biological phenomena and, as a method of
comparing, differentiating and classifying material and data, brings
intelligent coherence to an otherwise incomprehensible mass of
minutiae.
It is conventional to consider vital statistics as the continuous
numerical recording, in a large number of lives, of marriages, births,
sickness and deaths as a means whereby the health and growth of a
community may be measured. Inevitably, of course, this leads to
the observation of other aspects of society which influence life, its
reproductivity and its vitality. This whole field is, nowadays, referred
to as the science of demography.
An essential preliminary to any statistical appraisal is the
"counting of heads" and this is achieved by the decennial Census.
However, it was not until 1801 that a national Census was initiated
and, with the exception of 1941, has been repeated every 10 years
since. At first, the Census merely covered the recording of sexes with
a rough classification of occupation. Not until the Census of 1851,
after the establishment of the General Register Office in 1839, was
appropriate detailed data sought and correct analyses made of
Census figures. Since then, the Census form has become progressively
more comprehensive and consequently more valuable as a
statistical instrument.
Population
General.—Experts have estimated the world's population at the
beginning of the Christian era as no more than 2/300 million. It
took 16 centuries, i.e. until the Renaissance, to double in size but
by 1850 it had reached 1,000 million and by the early 1930s this had
risen to 2,000 million.
As natural factors such as famine, disease and tribal wars which,
in previous times, controlled populations are largely eliminated or
substantially reduced it becomes increasingly clear that man is fast
developing into the sole arbiter of population densities. As a
result, world population is rising rapidly, the yearly increase being
in the order of some 65 million (approximately equivalent to the
whole population of the United Kingdom) and by the year 2000 it
is expected to total some 7,000 million, double the present figure.
Between 1967 and 1981, the present population of England and
Wales is expected to rise by millions (9%) to almost 53 millions.
This accretion is accounted for mainly by increases of 2 millions
(17%) in those under 15 years of age and 1 million (15%) in those