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37
population of the London Borough of Greenwich, computed at
mid-year 1968, upon which the statistics of this Report have been
based. The figure returned is 229,700, indicating a decrease in the
population of 1,450 from that of the previous year and a total
showing a decline of 550 since the 1961 Census. (By reason of the
fact that the Registrar-General's mid-year population estimate for
1968 has been adjusted in the light of the 1966 Census, it is not
necessarily an accurate indication of population change since
1967.)
A possible explanation for what amounts to a considerable
reduction in the Borough's total population during 1968 may be
found in the closure or contraction of a number of large industrial
concerns in the area during the year under review.
Natural Increase—The natural increase for the year, i.e. excess
of births over deaths, was 844 compared with the figure of 1,121
for the previous year.
Emigration/Immigration—Taking into account a recorded
natural increase of 844, there is a presumptive emigration from
the Borough of 2,294 persons.
Estimates based upon the 1961 Census indicated that at 1st
April, 1965, there were 7,947 residents (equivalent to 3.4% of the
Borough's total population) who were born outside the British
Isles, of whom almost 2/3rds were from the Commonwealth
countries, the Colonies or Protectorates.
Of the persons enumerated in the Borough of Greenwich during
the 1966 Census some 9,350 or 4.5% were born overseas, an
increase of 15% since the 1965 estimate; the proportion of these
coming from the Commonwealth, Colonies or Protectorates
remained roughly the same, i.e. 2/3rds.
Numbering 1,650, immigrant children formed 4.45% of the total
school roll at the beginning of January 1969. This figure is
expected to rise by almost 20% to 2,050 by 1970.
Expectation of Life—From 1841, when the expectation of life
at birth was 40 years for males and 42 for females, there was a
gradual but persistent rise in both these figures until 1954, but
since that year the expectation of life at birth has scarcely changed
and now stands at 68.7 years for males and 74.9 for females.
Composition of Population:
(a) sex ratio—Taking the 1961 Census as a basis, it is estimated
that the total population of Greenwich is made up of 111,400 males